‘Pharma must rethink, repurpose’
Healing touch: YK Hamied, non-executive Chairman of Cipla - REUTERS×
Learn from past mistakes and acquire the right technology for the future, pharma doyen YK Hamied urges his compatriots
It’s 9.30 am when Dr YK Hamied calls from Spain, where he’s been for four months now, he says, due to pandemic-induced lockdowns and quarantines.
“It’s a sad situation,” he says, sounding uncharacteristically gloomy, as he quotes US expert Dr Anthony Fauci, who had cautioned ahead of the year-end festivities that the worst was yet to come.
The conversation veers to a recent development involving Dr Hamied, non-executive Chairman of home-grown drugmaker Cipla. A doyen of the pharma industry, Hamied was given a “lifetime achievement award” by the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), a platform largely of multinational drug companies. ....