"INDIA NEEDS TO BACK ITS INNOVATORS WITH CAPITAL"

Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India, on life after Covid, vaccine pricing, and expansion into new frontiers

- BY SIDDHARTH ZARABI

PERHAPS NO PERSON symbolised the fight against Covid-19 quite like Adar Poonawalla, the 44-year-old Chief Executive Officer of the world's biggest vaccine maker by volume, Serum Institute of India. The massive vaccine roll-out in India, through which well over a billion people were inoculated against the deadly virus, boosted Serum's revenue and profits. But they have dipped since then. In a conversation with Siddharth Zarabi, Group Editor of Business Today, Poonawalla talks about the path ahead for Serum, his decision to invest in a film production house, and more. Edited excerpts:

Let's start with the big picture. Serum Institute played a crucial role in the Covid fight. Where does the company stand now?

We faced multiple challenges—[accessing] raw materials, scaling up [production], and global logistics. But we learnt a lot and became more efficient. After the pandemic, many entities globally started exploring vaccine manufacturing. But success in this space requires more than just technology; manufacturing expertise is key.

Post-pandemic, the excess capacity we built had to be repurposed. We refocused on our pre-Covid pipeline—malaria, HPV, and others. The malaria vaccine launched last year is already saving lives in Africa. This year, we are gearing up to provide the HPV vaccine to the Indian government and export to global markets.

We've also been working on vaccines for mosquito-borne diseases—dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya—especially as climate change increases their spread. Over the next two to three years, you'll see these roll out. We're also looking to expand into Europe and the US, markets that we hadn’t traditionally served.

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