Zydus Lifesciences An Indian innovation-driven lifesciences company taking on the world

With a population of almost 1.4 billion, the second largest in the world, India is a land of opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses with the right ambitions. According to the government, the Indian economy expanded by 8.7% in 2021, to reach $3.3 trillion, and in May 2022 exports hit $37.3 billion, their highest-ever level, up 15.5% year on year.

At the same pharmaceuticals time, the Indian industry is now the largest manufacturer of generic medicines globally, with a 20% share of the global supply by volume, and a 60% share of vaccines, as well as the highest number of US-FDA compliant pharmaceutical plants outside of the United States. Increasingly, Indian pharmaceutical companies are looking to move up the value chain to make a more meaningful contribution to the discovery of new medicines and vaccines.

"We have transitioned from A manufacturing to being much more than that providing services, providing new discoveries, and also being innovative. We have evolved into a much larger player in the overall ecosystem," says Sharvil Patel, Managing Director of Zydus Lifesciences Ltd, the fourth largest company operating in the Indian pharmaceutical industry.

Zydus Lifesciences, previously known as Cadila Healthcare Limited, was founded in 1952, at a time in India when there was a major gap when it came to accessing to medicines. "One of the big challenges was that many medicines were not available in the country," says Patel. "Our late founder started this company in order to bring access to modern medicines to India. We were the first company to launch a treatment for anemia, then we did it for tuberculosis," he says.

"As an organization, from 1950 to 2015 we worked on bringing access to medicines, not only in India but we have also been exporting to different countries in order to stick to this principle of making medicine accessible to all," he adds.

Headquartered in Ahmedabad, the group now has manufacturing sites and research facilities across five Indian states and Brazil. From a business perspective, the group is present in more than 50 countries around the world.