Rajiv Mahajan

Rajiv Mahajan has a diverse work experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Rajiv started their career at Merck in 2000, where they held various roles, including Research Fellow and Senior Research Chemical Engineer, focusing on package development, stability strategy, and process characterization. Rajiv was also the Principal Engineer responsible for drug product development, registration support, and commercial launch of therapeutic proteins and vaccines. Rajiv then became an Associate Director at Merck, managing a group of scientists and engineers specializing in late-stage process development for biologics.

In 2012, Rajiv was promoted to Director at Merck, where they led the Project Leadership and Global Systems groups. In this role, they provided end-to-end CMC leadership and project management for all biological programs in the Merck portfolio, from late-stage clinical development to commercialization. Rajiv also established the Global Systems group, which developed key business and technical processes for biologics commercialization. Additionally, Rajiv served as the Interim Analytical Director, helping establish the analytical group in North America and resolving critical analytical challenges for a late-stage program.

In 2015, Rajiv joined AstraZeneca as the Senior Director of Global Technical Operations at their subsidiary, MedImmune/AstraZeneca Biologics. Rajiv established a new end-to-end technical leadership capability for the biologics portfolio, supporting product lifecycle activities from early development to submission, launch, and lifecycle management. Rajiv then assumed the role of Executive Director, leading the Products and New Technology division, where they were responsible for technology transfer, process validation, process performance qualification, and continuous process verification. Rajiv also played a crucial role in regulatory submission and inspection preparation and drove the transformation of the MS&T organization.

Most recently, Rajiv joined Exelixis as the Vice President and Head of Commercial Biologics Operations and Late Stage Development in 2022.

Rajiv Mahajan received their B. Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1996. Rajiv then pursued a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, completing their studies in 2000.