Pankaj Patel has used acquisitions and alliances to take the group to the next level.
Pankaj R Patel is chairman and managing director of the Zydus Cadila group, whose turnover has grown from a modest Rs 250 crores in 1995 to over Rs 3700 crores today. The group is poised to join the billion dollar league in the current financial year (2010-11) and become a global research-driven company by 2020.
Founded by the late Ramanbhai B Patel in 1952, Zydus Cadila is one of the top five pharma companies in India. In 1995, the group restructured its operations and in 1996 it became a public limited company, operating as Cadila Healthcare Ltd. Pankaj Patel is the founder’s son, and has 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
The company has its manufacturing facilities in Ahmedabad, Ankleshwar and Vadodara in Gujarat, Ponda in Goa, Raigad in Maharashtra and Solan in Himachal Pradesh. The company’s operations include pharmaceuticals (human formulations, veterinary formulations and bulk drugs), diagnostics, herbal products, skin care products and OTC products.
Patel has made numerous acquisitions and struck a series of strategic alliances. In 1996, Cadila entered into a strategic alliance with Gulin Pharma of China and launched Falcigo in India, an anti-malarial drug. In May 2000, it acquired the formulations business of Recon Ltd, which strengthened the company in the southern market. In 2001, it acquired German Remedies (this was then the largest pharma M&A in Indian). In the same year, it entered into a joint venture with US-based Onconova for collaborative research in the field of Oncogenomics.
In 2002, the company acquired Banyan Chemicals, a Vadodara-based company with a US FDA approved plant. In 2003, German Remedies, Recon Healthcare, Zoom Properties and Zydus Pathline merged with the company. Also, they acquired Alpharma France, which spearheaded the group operations in France. Also in 2003, the company emerged as a ‘partner of choice’ for Schering AG to manufacture and market the products in India.
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In 2004, the company entered into a strategic alliance with Zambon Group in Italy to explore new avenues in contract manufacturing. In the same year, it entered into a long-term strategic pact with Boehringer Ingelheim India Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boerhringer Ingelheim, (BI) to manufacture and market BI’s products in India.
In 2005, the company entered into a strategic alliance with Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Generics, a business unit of Tyco Healthcare, to market products manufactured by the company under a joint label. In the same year, the company signed a 50:50 joint venture agreement with Mayne Pharma of Australia to manufacture generic injectable, cytotoxic (anti-cancer) medicines as well as active pharmacetical ingredients (API) for global markets. The examples abound.
In recognition of his entrepreneurial vision, Patel was awarded the Ernst &Young Entrepreneur of the Year — Life Sciences Award for the year 2009.