CIPLA: Breaking The Monopoly of Big Pharma | Milestone | Khwaja Abdul Hamied | Yusuf Hameid скачать в хорошем качестве

CIPLA: Breaking The Monopoly of Big Pharma | Milestone | Khwaja Abdul Hamied | Yusuf Hameid

He wasn’t afraid of taking on Big Pharma to make life-saving medicines accessible to all. Starting with an anti-HIV drug that cost ‘less than a dollar a day’ 20 years ago, CIPLA’s Yusuf Hamied has scripted a rare and incredible story of a drug maker with a conscience In February 2001, the New York Times published an article that shook the world. It reported that an Indian company was making a revolutionary anti-HIV drug ‘cocktail’ that would cost less than a dollar a day. The cost of the treatment then was about 12,000 dollars per patient, per year, and the company in question, Cipla, had brought it down to 350 dollars per patient per year. A few months earlier, in September 2000, Cipla Chairman Yusuf Hamied, in his speech at the European Commission in Brussels had said: “Friends, I represent the Third World. I represent the needs and aspirations of the Third World. I represent the capabilities of the Third World. And, above all, I represent an opportunity… We all have a responsibility to alleviate the suffering of millions of our fellowmen who are afflicted with HIV and AIDS.” Cipla’s innovation broke the monopoly of the big pharmaceutical companies that had put AIDS drugs beyond the reach of the people who most needed them, and Yusuf Hamied became a global champion. ---- Cipla, which is today a multi-million dollar company, had humble beginnings. In the early 1930s, chemist Khwaja Abdul Hamied from Aligarh launched a German restorative tonic called Okasa, in India. It became so popular that with the money he earned, he rented a bungalow in Bombay and set up a small laboratory there. He named it ‘The Chemical, Industrial & Pharmaceutical Laboratories’ which was shortened to Cipla later. It was registered as a public limited company in 1935, with an authorized capital of Rs 600,000. Khwaja Hamied, who was an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi, wanted to make medicines accessible and affordable to all. During the second world war, in 1940, Cipla started supplying medicines to Burma and South-East Asian countries, and drugs for diarrhoea, dysentery and malaria went from India. Over the years, the laboratory grew by leaps and bounds, and post-Independence, in 1951, a foundation stone was laid for Cipla Research and Development block. The company welcomed dignitaries like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, SS Bhatnagar and CV Raman, and shared their vision of making India self-sufficient in healthcare. In 1961, Khwaja Hamied’s son Yusuf joined the company after returning to India with a PhD degree in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. He headed the company for 52 years. Under him, new laboratories and manufacturing plants were set up and in 1968, Cipla’s turnover crossed the 1 crore mark for the first time. In the 1950s and 60s, multinational companies dominated the pharma industry and had monopolistic control over the domestic market. To change that trend, Cipla along with others lobbied to change the existing Patent Law of 1911. Yusuf believed that a country as densely populated as India simply could not afford the high prices of drugs that resulted from monopolies. These efforts culminated in the enactment of the Patents Act 1970, which allowed medicines to be copied even if they were under international patent, as long as the process was not the same. The law transformed the Indian pharmaceutical industry, enabling Cipla and other companies to grow by manufacturing generic drugs. Cipla, one of the oldest pharma companies in India, has emerged as a global leader. But it has always maintained that its story has never been only about making medicines, but also about making a difference to the lives of the patients they serve. Please subscribe to the channel and leave a comment below! =============== Join us at https://www.livehistoryindia.com to rediscover stories that are deeply rooted in our history and culture. Also, follow us on - Twitter:   / livehindia   Facebook:   / livehistoryindia   Instagram:   / livehistoryindia   ===============