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Cyrus Poonawalla:India’s Vaccine King
From Selling Horses Serum Based Vaccines To Becoming India’s Vaccine King
Cyrus S Poonawalla is the Billionaire Businessman, Chairman, and Managing Director of Cyrus Poonawalla Group inclusive of Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturing firm in terms of doses produced and sold which has been leading India’s Covid-19 vaccine production during the pandemic as well.
From incepting his entrepreneurial venture at a young age when he realised the family Poonawalla Stud Farms offering horse racing had no future in a socialist nation like India, to becoming the tycoon he is today, Poonawalla has weaved his journey.
Cyrus Poonawalla company name is Serum Institute of India (SII), the Indian biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals company that is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines located in the city of Pune, India. The 1966 founded brand by Cyrus Poonawalla is a subsidiary of the holding company 'Cyrus Poonawalla Group'
In 2021, he was ranked number 5 on Fortunes' India rich list with a net worth of $19 billion as his brand completed more than 5 decades.
As one of the cheapest and largest vaccine manufacturers (by doses) in the world inclusive of 1.5 billion doses annually of a range of vaccines, including for measles, polio and flu.
Aged 70+ Cyrus Poonawalla completed his schooling from Bishops School, Pune and went on to graduate from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) in 1966.
He was awarded a PhD in 1988 by the Pune University for his thesis entitled “Improved Technology in the Manufacture of Specific Anti-toxins and its Socio-Economic Impact on the Society”. Cyrus Poonawalla House Pune Koregaon Park is where he resides in his hometown.
Dr Poonawalla is married to Late Villoo Poonawalla who died on 8th June 2010 due to a massive cardiac arrest and was survived by her husband, Cyrus Poonawalla Son, Adar Poonawalla, who is the CEO at the Serum Institute, Adar's wife Natasha, and a grandson.
Along with efforts in education and public welfare through Villoo Poonawalla Foundation, he also has a school named Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla International School in Kolhapur which is a CBSE-affiliated International School in Kolhapur situated in a 12-acre campus.
Poonawalla realized the lack of scope of horse racing in India and started experimenting with cars and his friend built a $120 prototype sports car modelled on the D-type Jaguar. However, producing such cars on a commercial basis would require huge capital which they lacked.
While he was focusing on producing cars for the masses, he witnessed the horses were donated to the government-owned Haffkine Institute in Mumbai, which made vaccines using horse serum.
From there, he took up the challenge of producing vaccines extracting horse serum and supplying it throughout the country at affordable prices meeting the demand to supply in the country.
1996-Dr. Poonawalla with his brother Zavary Poonawalla, founded Serum Institute of India, for which they raised $12,000 by selling horses and convinced their father for the rest of the capital, on a 12-acre lot and started producing vaccines
1996: They incepted with a vision to offer something that he found relevant to a socialist country like India. They launched their first therapeutic anti-tetanus serum within just two years incepted the production of the anti-tetanus vaccines.
1974-The production of DTP vaccine incepted. The vaccine protects children from diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis and then introduced an anti-snake venom serum for snake bites.
1989-The production of Measles Vaccine M-VAC and in a year Serum Institute became the nation's largest vaccine manufacturer.
1994- Cyrus Poonawalla's Serum Institute was commissioned by the World Health Organization to export vaccines from India and began supplying high-quality vaccines to U.N. Agencies such as PAHO (Pan American Health Organisation) and UNICEF.
1998- Serum Institute was supplying vaccines to over 100 countries.
2000- Every two children was vaccinated by vaccines of Serum Institute of India.
Serum Institute Of India has over the years emerged as India's leading Biotech company and presently is exporting vaccines to more than 140countries around the world.
2005: Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of medicine, by the Government of India.
2007: The Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" in the category of Healthcare & Life Sciences in November.
2015: Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for India.
2018: Honorary doctorate by the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
2019: Honorary doctorate by the University of Oxford.
2021: Lokmanya Tilak National Award.
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