Adar Poonawalla
Adar Poonawalla (born 14 January 1981) is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India. Founded in 1966 by his father, Cyrus Poonawalla, it is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced. Education. Adar Poonawalla was educated at The Bishop's School (Pune) and at the St Edmund's School Canterbury followed by the University of Westminster. Career. Poonawalla joined the Serum Institute of India in 2001 after graduating from university. Then exporting its products to 35 countries, Poonawalla concentrated on the company's international market, new products license and getting pre -qualified by the World Health Organization for supply to United Nations Agencies including UNICEF and PAHO. As of 2015, he has helped the company export its products to over 140 countries; 85 percent of its revenues are from overseas. In 2011, he became the CEO. In 2012, he played a major role in the acquisition of Bilthoven Biologicals, a Netherlands-based government vaccine manufacturing company. Poonawalla is a board member of the GAVI Alliance, the global vaccine alliance. He initiated and launched in 2014; Serum Institute's oral polio vaccine, which became a bestseller for the company. It was reported  that he planned to expand the product portfolio to include vaccines for dengue, flu and cervical cancer during the same year. Presently he is the CEO of Serum Institute of India. On the 31st of May 2021, he was appointed as the chairman of Magma Fincorp, after acquiring a 66% stake in the financial services company. Threats demanding COVID-19 vaccines. In an interview with ‘The Times’, Poonawalla declared that he left India for London because of threats demanding COVID-19 vaccines. Poonawalla also said that he will start Covid vaccine production outside India in addition to the ongoing production in India . He was provided with ‘Y’ category security by the Indian government as the threats were made public. Philanthropy. In 2020, SII announced that it would donate $66 million to the University of Oxford to fund the creation of the Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building.