Top pharma company’s owner, son die of Covid

A father-son duo from a prominent Hyderabadbased business family, who owned one of the oldest medical stores in Himayatnagar and became one of the leading names in the pharma industry with a turnover of over `500 crore, died due to Covid-19, triggering panic among medical store owners and in the pharma industry alike.

Two more members of the family are under treatment at a corporate hospital in the city.

Sources close to the family told Deccan Chronicle that the medical store, which started operations way back in 1985, has over 20 dedicated staff who were running the establishment while the family members were focussed on their other businesses, particularly pharma distribution.

In the wake of the pandemic as their medical store was witnessing a huge rush, the family

members were visiting the store occasionally to supervise the operations. Their godowns are located close to the shop.

In all, five members of the family were infected with the deadly virus. The group’s chairman, who was in his late 50s, and his father died in the last couple of days.

Having started their business with a single medical store with an investment of around `1.5 lakh, the group grew into a `500 crore pharma distributing entity in the last three decades. They forayed into the pharmaceutical distribution business in 1988, and the firm distributes products from 480 pharma divisions from

300 companies. Their monthly turnover had touched `1 crore in

1995. By 2006, they established a company dealing in vaccines and speciality drugs and, in 2014, set up another firm to make and market their own generic drugs.

They had also tied up with a corporate hospital for supply of medicines and this deal was worth hundreds of crores.

Presently, the family owns more than half-adozen companies and has close to 500 employees.

It is learnt that despite taking all necessary precautions, some of their employees at the medical store were got infected with Covid-19 which led to the store being shut from the last one week.

“A lot of infected patients are visiting medical stores to buy medicines which is spreading the virus further,'' said a medical hall owner.