The whole of India is talking about Krishna Ella. Hailing from a family of farmers in Tamil Nadu, young Ella wanted to take up farming but his father did not allow it. The hardworking young man got a job at a German pharmaceutical company. Later, he received a fellowship to study in the US. After receiving a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he worked as a faculty member at the South Carolina Medical University. But, he was sure that his place of work was not a foreign country. In 1996, he returned to India with his wife Suchitra. This decision changed the lives of millions of Indians. Because, the couple started the Bharat Biotech International Ltd., the country’s most prestigious vaccine manufacturer, investing Rs 12.5 crore.
So far, Bharat Biotech, which is valued at Rs500 crore, has vaccinated the poor in more than 150 developing countries. Ella made his strong presence in the biotech industry by developing drugs for diarrhoea-related infections caused by rotavirus. Under his leadership, Bharat Biotech successfully developed ‘Rotovac’, a cost-effective vaccine to save humans from rotavirus. Krishna Ella describes the recognition received for ‘Covaxin’ as a giant leap in India’s medical innovation scenario.
