MAY 2018 FORBES ASIA | 53Just the Remedy
I
n 2011, Samina Vaziralli, a third-generation scion at Cipla,
was being groomed for succession with her younger brother.
Four years later he stepped out, leaving her to take on the
legacy of India’s third-largest pharma company.
By 2016 Vaziralli had moved to the highest executive post, vice
chairman, at the Mumbai outit and charted an expansion course
encompassing India, the U.S. and South Africa, with China and
Brazil also in her sights. hat included spearheading the com-
pany’s entry into the U.S. in 2015 through the acquisition of two
generic-drug makers valued at a total of $550 million.
Until then, Cipla—which makes drugs to treat respiratory and
cardiovascular diseases as well as cancer, malaria and AIDS—had
worked with partners in the U.S., the world’s largest pharma mar-
ket, handling R&D and manufacturing but selling the drugs under
its partners’ labels. “he value was all in the front end, and we
wanted to own the front end,” says Vaziralli. “We had the capabil-
ity and the technology. So we decided to launch ourselves.”
he results are there to see. Revenue from the North American
market has surged to $392 million in the year ended March 31,
2017, from $148 million in the year ended March 31, 2015. North
America contributes 18% of total revenue, and there’s more to
come as Cipla has 97 drugs awaiting inal approvals from the U.S.
Food & Drug Administration. A further 40% of revenue comes
from the domestic market and about 12% from its South Africa
portfolio. For the irst nine months of iscal 2018, revenue at the
maker of branded and generic drugs rose 13% to $1.8 billion,
while net proit rose 22% to $198 million.
Vaziralli, 42, didn’t grow up with the idea of running the
company, founded by her paternal grandfather in 1935. She got
an undergrad degree in commerce at Mumbai’s Sydenham Col-
lege, then went to the London School of Economics in 1998 for a
master’s in inance, joining Goldman Sachs in London right ater.
She moved a couple of years later to their New York oice, then
returned to India in 2004 and took a break to focus on family.
In 2011 she joined Cipla, where her uncle Y.K. Hamied is
nonexecutive chairman and her father, M.K. Hamied, is nonex-
ecutive vice chairman. he family, which has a $2.5 billion net
worth stemming from a 37% stake in Cipla, decided to hand over
operational control to professionals at that time. Vaziralli started
shadowing her uncle and father and soon became the company’s
global head of strategy and M&A. It was a rocky period marked by
top-level exits and changes in business direction. Vaziralli steadied
the boat by building a second and third line of professionals. Ciplahired a CEO with whom she works closely; he handles operations,
and she acts as the bridge between family and management as well
as family and the board. In 2015 her brother, Kamil Hamied, let
to become a venture capital investor in London, something he had
lagged a year before. he transition “was fairly easy,” Vaziralli says.
A key element of the Cipla legacy is afordable drugs, in partic-
ular lifesaving HIV drugs, primarily in Africa. It’s seen as a savior
in countries like Uganda that were ravaged by AIDS. “here was a
time when the [Ugandan] capital city of Kampala would be lined
with coin makers—when you drove up from the airport,” says
Vaziralli. All that changed when Cipla made antiretroviral drugs
available for less than $1 a day. “In Dr. Hamied’s words, ‘What’s
the use of developing lifesaving medicines if you can’t make them
afordable to the patients?’ ” asks Vaziralli, quoting her uncle.
Vaziralli says one of the key strategies she uses for work-life
balance is to set priorities. “Every day you have to make a choice—
a choice to embrace one thing and to let go of another,” she says.
“You also have to create a support system.” Her two sons, 8 and 12,
sometimes do homework at the Cipla headquarters or drop in to
have lunch with her. She also makes time to attend squash tourna-
ments with her elder son, a nationally ranked player. And she has
an athletic streak, running three or four half-marathons a year:
“My best thinking and focus has come when I am running.”Under Vaziralli’s guidance, Indian drug major Cipla
gets a shot in the arm from U.S. acquisitions.
BY ANURADHA RAGHUNATHANSamina
Vaziralli 42
EXECUTIVE VICE
CHAIRMAN
CIPLA
INDIAF