SBL partner Zydus Cadila awarded ‘Best Supplier 2012’ by SPC
Thursday, 25 July 2013 01:08
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The State Pharmaceutical Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPC), which is the largest healthcare customer in the country, has awarded the best supplier for the year 2012, to Zydus Cadila, the fourth largest pharmaceutical company in India.
This is an annual event held by the SPC, which is the Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Health, at which the performance of its suppliers, both local and foreign are recognised.
Zydus Cadila is a 60-year-old company, whose distributor in Sri Lanka is Swiss Biogenics Ltd. (SBL), and has been operating in the country since 1985 and has created a strong foothold for itself in the local market.
Zydus Cadila is also one of the first Indian pharmaceutical companies to commence operations in Sri Lanka in a significant manner. As Ashok Bhatia, President (International Business) of the company says, one in every six medical prescriptions in Sri Lanka would have a Zydus product, proof of the company’s strong presence in Sri Lanka’s vibrant pharmaceutical industry.
“Our company was started by our late founder Chairman Ramanbhai B. Patel, who was a first generation entrepreneur in newly-independent India. When Zydus Cadila came into being, 90% of the industry was dominated by multinational companies. Therefore, the only way forward for us, since inception, was to offer high quality products at a good price. ‘Cadila for Quality’ was not just our credo but our business philosophy as well. That is the secret of our success, not only in India, but also across the world,” Bhatia explained. After establishing its position in the Indian market, Zydus Cadila expanded its operations to other prominent markets across the world. But, to capture the global market, the company adopted a new business model in order to strengthen its research sector.
“Capturing the global market was a highly challenging task. For that, we realised that we needed to develop our own products. We were one of the first Indian companies to achieve remarkable success in the research sector. We are the first Indian company to receive an approval for its own patented research product. The discovery research product is ‘Lipaglyn,’ which belongs to a novel class of drugs called the Glitazars. It is the only drug in the world to treat diabetic dyslipidemia or hypertriglyceridemia in Type II diabetes. It gives patients suffering from diabetic dyslipidemia the option of a once-daily oral therapy and has beneficial effect on both lipid parameters as well as glycemic control while addressing all safety concerns. This is an achievement which we are extremely proud of,” he said. Zydus Cadila has expanded its global operation to such extent that the majority of the company’s revenues come from overseas markets. “Nearly 40% of our revenues come from India and 60% from overseas markets. Presently we are operating in prominent markets such as the US, Europe, Japan, Brazil, Mexico and several vibrant emerging markets including Sri Lanka,” the President (International Business) added.
In Sri Lanka, he said, the company has found the ideal partner in SBL, which has the right infrastructure and believes in the same values and principles as Zydus Cadila. “SBL too gives a lot of weight to ‘good quality’ and ‘good price’. That makes our partnership work. I think we have found the perfect partner for us in Sri Lanka.”
