THE HEALER
Because the revolutionary founder of the drugmaker remains a towering presence in the pharma industry and last year began to spread his firm’s reach into the US, the home of big pharma that has long waged war on generic drugs
Because he was in October 2017 awarded by Columbia University in the US “for his extraordinary humanitarian and social efforts and pioneering role in the fight against HIV and AIDS”, underlining how even big pharma-dominated America has come round to appreciating his company’s role as a supplier of cheap vital drugs to millions in Asia and Africa
FAMOUS FRIENDSHIP Born in Vilnius to a Lithuanian mother, Hamied grew up in Mumbai and counted Zubin Mehta among his childhood friends. Cipla celebrated its founder’s 81st birthday in July 2017 by tweeting a childhood photograph of the two together