admin You bet! Not long ago, Cyrus Poonawalla established Serum Institute in 1966. Today it is the world’s largest vaccine producer. Even before Covid, the company has produced over 1.5 billion doses to fight measles, polio and flu.
So how rich is Cyrus Poonawalla? Well, let’s take a look at a few facts and figures. In 2020, his net worth was 8.2 billion dollars. Today, it is 26 billion dollars. That means his wealth has risen by 17.8 billion dollars. He is the fourth richest Indian, and the richest billionaire in the health care industry. Producing Covid19 vaccines helped him grow his wealth by a whopping 41 percent over the past year.
If we look at the journey of Cyrus Poonawalla and Serum Institute, one can clearly justify their success. Son of a horse breeder, graduate from Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce, and a doctorate holder from Pune University, he founded Serum Institute of India in 1966 and built it into the world’s largest vaccine producer (by doses). He decided to put his family trade to use, and started making vaccines using horse serum. Horse serum is particularly cheap, and he had no dearth of the animal. Within 2 years, Serum Institute launched an anti tetatnus vaccine. And in 1989, they launched the measles vaccine. And thus began the vaccine empire as doses for flu, rubella, hepatitis, mumps and polio were launched. With their mission “Health for all by 2000 AD”, the institute started mass-producing vaccines both for India and other countries. Currently, no less than 170 countries use Serum Institute’s vaccines. The Institue became the first coronavirus vaccine makers in the world when the Indian Government approved covishield. Cyrus has been awarded the Padmashree award in 2005 by the Government of India, and an honorary doctor of science in 2019 by Oxford University.
But it’s not just vaccines and horses with Cyrus. He relishes collecting cars, and is a proud owner of an impressive collection of sports cars and custom limousines.
If we continue down the list of the richest healthcare billionaires, the next three spots after Cyrus all have a net worth of 19 billion dollars, and are occupied by Thomas Frist Jr of HCA health care US, Li Xiting and Xu Hang of Mindray China. At the fifth position comes Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma India, another Indian healthcare billionaire who is not so far behind, at a whacking 18 billion dollars net worth.
Pharma, like any other field, is extremely profitable. All it requires is hard work and perseverance. Unlike other fields, however, it has an added, hidden advantage; a satisfaction of doing good by helping people.
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