Koshy George is a true Medicine Man. He knew as a young boy growing up in India that he wanted to make medicine. With his parents encouragement, he earned both a Bachelor and Master degree in Pharmacy while in India. He left India for the United States in 2003, kicking off his career at Pii as a group leader in the Formulation Development and Operations departments. In 2010, still guided by his passion for making medicine, he earned his Master of Science in Biotechnology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Throughout his 25-year pharmaceutical career, he has worked in a variety of fields, including Oral Dosage Formulation Development, Quality Compliance/Assurance, Manufacturing Science & Technology, Product Life Cycle Management, Process and cleaning validation, CSV, Calibrations, Tech Transfer, and Packaging.

One of the things that Koshy enjoys most about his current position as Associate Director of Manufacturing, Science and Technology is that he gets to take a drug from the early stages of determining the best administrative route to stability testing to through to commercialization. While at Pii, he has been involved in numerous product tech transfers, and validated and launched multiple New Drug Applications, including orphan drugs, hormones, potent drugs, DEA-schedule drugs, veterinary chewable tablets, tablet-in-tablet, soft gels, nanosuspensions, solutions, lotions, creams, and ointments.

But, his interest in a medication doesn’t end at commercialization. He says even when a drug is on the market, he is open to find ways of making it even more effective and efficient. This might mean a better way of manufacturing or taking a good drug and making it great. He finds reward in challenging himself and his colleagues to keep on developing and building on what is there.

He is also excited by how pharma, and in particular oral drug development, continues improving. He points to newer technology that will enable formulators to reduce the amount of API in a drug without compromising the efficiency and efficacy of the drug.

Like the true medicine man he, Koshy also believes that there cannot be a compromise on quality, and is happiest when he sees a drug he helped develop and manufacture actually helping patients. That, he says, is the light of commercialization.