Who is Cyrus Poonawalla ?
Dr. Cyrus Poonawala (born 1941) is an Indian Zoroastrian businessman, also known as the “Vaccine King of India”. He is the President of the Poonawala Group, which houses the Serum Institute of India (an Indian biotech company that provides pediatrics. Manufactures vaccines) is included. The Serum Institute exports vaccines to more than 165 countries and every other child in the world has been vaccinated by the Serum Institute of India. Hurun Global Rich List – 2019 ranked Dr. Poonawala as the fourth richest person in India and 100th in the world with a wealth of $ 13 billion.
Serum Institute of India, a company of Cyrus Poonawalla, manufactures vaccines for children. Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines. It is ranked seventh in India and 170th in Forbes’ list of wealthiest person of 2018.
Who is Cyrus Poonawala Career
Cyrus Poonawalla was born into a family that had an old association with India’s racing circuit through Poonawala studs. At an early age, Poonawala realized that since horse racing had no future in a socialist nation like India, he needed to explore other places. He started experimenting with cars with a friend. He initially built a $ 120 prototype sports car, built on the D-Type Jaguar. However, he eventually abandoned the idea of marketing the car when he felt it would be a smarter move to create a product for the public than the elite.
Poonawala initially worked for horse racing, but soon realized that it had no future in a country like India, then he started work in the field of car manufacturing, soon made a sports car propeetype. , But this idea of him also did not work.
After that, on the advice of a senior of his horse farm, he started work in the field of vaccine manufacture. Retired horses from his farm were donated to the Hafkin Institute, which manufactures vaccines from a horse’s serum. He decided to make the vaccine from horse serum available to the government at relatively cheaper prices.
Serum Institute of India
Poonawala founded the Serum Institute of India in 1966. He initially prepared the anti-tetanus vaccine within two years, then in 1974 he developed the DTP vaccine, which protects children from diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus.
Soon his efforts were also appreciated by the World Health Organization. In 1994, he supplied high quality vaccines to Unicef. oday, India Biotech has become the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.
In the year 2005, Padma Shri has been awarded the fourth highest civilian honor by the Government of India for significant contribution in the field of medicine. In the same year, he was awarded the Life Time Achievement Award by the then Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh.
Cyrus Poonawala’s Personal Life
Cyrus Poonawala was born in a relatives whose ancient issue was horse racing and they owned Poonawalla Stud Farms. He did his schooling from Bishops School, Pune and completed his graduation from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) in 1966. He was awarded a PhD in 1988 by the Pune University for his thesis entitled as Improved Technology in the Manufacture of Specific Anti-toxins and its Socio-Economic Impact upon the Society. Dr Poonawala is married to Late Villoo Poonawala. She is survived by her husband, son Adar who is the Executive Director (Operations) at the Serum Institute, Adar’s wife Natasha, and a grandson..
Awards won by Cyrus Poonawala
- He was awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of medicine, by the Government of India in 2005.
- He was awarded the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year 2007” in the category of Healthcare & Life Sciences on 20 November 2007.
- He was awarded the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year 2014” on 5 February 2015.
- He was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by The University of Massachusetts Medical School on 3 June 2018.
- He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science by the University of Oxford on 26 June 2019.