CAMPBELL, Calif., February 20, 2024 – Saama today announced the appointment of Bhaskar Sambasivan as Chief Executive Officer. Sambasivan succeeds Vivek Sharma, who is stepping down from his role for personal reasons after having successfully guided the company through a period of growth and expansion. An industry veteran within life sciences, Bhaskar brings a deep understanding of how technology innovations are driving today’s advances in science and medicine. As Saama CEO, Bhaskar will oversee the continued growth of the business as well as innovation in Saama’s AI-enabled SaaS products and solutions that support the full spectrum of clinical development within the life sciences industry. Bhaskar has also joined the company’s Board of Directors.
Sambasivan brings more than 30 years of experience working at the center of healthcare and technology convergence leading and serving clients through business transformation. Most recently, Sambasivan was the CEO of CitiusTech, a technology services and solutions company, and Chief Strategy Officer and President of Patient Services at EVERSANA, focused on end-to-end pharmaceutical commercialization solutions. Bhaskar also led the Global Life Sciences business at Cognizant where he worked for nearly 15 years.
“Bhaskar has built his career helping businesses effectively integrate advanced technologies into their operations to ultimately transform their approach to innovation,” said Joe Bress, managing director at Carlyle, and member of the Saama Board of Directors. “We are excited to welcome Bhaskar as CEO of Saama where he’ll bring his firsthand experience supporting clients who are working to improve and accelerate clinical research and commercialization in order to get new treatments for patients.”
“I am thrilled with this opportunity to lead Saama in such a vibrant and innovative period in the life sciences industry,” said Sambasivan. “With the power of its AI-enabled technology platform, I believe Saama is uniquely positioned to lead the current transformation in clinical research by creating an environment where collaboration and generating insights from data can occur with unprecedented speed. I look forward to working with the exceptional team at Saama to further evolve our products and solutions to meet the unique needs of our clients and continue to make a difference to the patients we all serve.”
Saama has experienced great progress in recent months, having announced an expanded agreement to integrate AI-driven data solutions across Pfizer’s R&D portfolio, and a multi-year agreement to streamline and facilitate AstraZeneca’s clinical data management and medical review processes. Beyond its commercial success, Saama continues to issue releases of its AI-driven platform, including generative AI chat (Data Quality Co-Pilot and Chat for Patient Insights) and Interactive Review Listings (a single environment for comprehensive data review). Saama is committed to fostering innovation and supporting the complex needs of its customers.
About Saama
Saama develops life science products and solutions that accelerate the delivery of therapies to patients. With innovative AI technologies, Saama drives breakthrough intelligence into clinical and commercial operations. The Saama platform powered the clinical trial that led to the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine. Headquartered in Campbell, CA, with employees around the globe, Saama is committed to helping customers save and improve lives. Discover more at saama.com.
Contacts:
Kate Mikus
Senior Director, Marketing
[email protected]
Heather Shea
Catalytic Agency on behalf of Saama
[email protected]
