Vinita Gupta, Group President and CEO, Lupin Pharmaceuticals and Director, Lupin
Feb
2015....India-based drugmaker Lupin has signed an agreement with Polish
biopharmaceutical firm Celon Pharma to develop a fluticasone /
salmeterol dry powder inhaler (DPI).
Under the deal, Lupin will
take the responsibility for commercialisation of the product, which is a
generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Advair Diskus.
Lupin
CEO Vinita Gupta said: “We are very pleased to partner with Celon given
their experience in the development and manufacturing of
fluticasone/salmeterol DPI in Europe…………..
http://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/newslupin-celon-pharma-partner-generic-version-gsks-advair-diskus-4514718?WT.mc_id=DN_News
Ms.
Vinita Gupta is the CEO of Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc, USA, (LPI) and
Group President, Director on the board of Lupin Limited and a Director
on the Board of Lupin’s Japanese subsidiary Kyowa Pharmaceuticals. Ms.
Gupta is responsible for the North American and European business of the
company.
Ms. Gupta joined Lupin in 1992 and developed Lupin’s
entry strategy into US and Europe. Under her leadership Lupin has
emerged as a leader in the US generic market as well as the only company
from India to have a successful brand business in the US. As part of
her responsibility she built the entire management team for the US and
European business and supervised the development of the company’s
pipeline.
Ms. Gupta holds a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the
University of Mumbai and MBA from J L Kellogg Graduate School of
Management, Northwestern University.
"A good year" is how Vinita
Gupta, Group President and CEO at Lupin Pharmaceuticals, describes her
company's performance at a time when unsettling news was the key
takeaway for pharma companies. Lupin grew by an impressive 35.9 per cent
globally and 24 per cent in India. New product launches helped it grow
its generics business by 52 per cent, making it the sixth-largest
generics pharmaceutical company globally by market capitalisation and
the third-largest Indian pharmaceutical company by revenues. "I can't
think of any challenges that affected Lupin's performance during the
last fiscal year," says Gupta, 44. The company's strategy now is to
focus strongly on building its branded business globally.
Vinita
Gupta, 43, Group President and CEO, Lupin Pharmaceuticals and Director,
Lupin, is based in the United States, but has been in India a lot in
the past one year.
With
an expanding role in Lupin’s universe, Vinita has been spending more
time outside the US, at times taking her six-year-old son, Krish with
her. “He is getting exposure at a much younger age,” she says. Gupta
herself was exposed to business at the age of 11 by her father Desh
Bandhu Gupta, Lupin’s founder and Chairman.
“We almost had a
family board at home, discussing work,” she says. Currently work goes
well indeed, with Gupta taking new initiatives in India and also making
the business more global. “I am focusing on drivers for growth in our
business for the next five years,” she says.
Gupta is married to US-based businessman Brij Sharma.
She
was 13 when she travelled to Switzerland with her father, to watch him
position the family-run Lupin Limited, to negotiate and to strategise.
It was enough to get her hooked. Enough for her to move away from a
childhood fascination for art and enter the world of pharmaceuticals.
Group president and CEO, Lupin Pharmaceuticals, and director on the
board of Lupin Limited, Vinita Gupta has never regretted that decision.
The 41-year-old is responsible for creating a substantial international
presence for the company that was born in Mumbai in 1968 and named after
a leguminous flower.
The Lupin group produces affordable generic
and branded formulations in the world with a significant presence in
cardiovasculars, diabetes, asthma, pediatrics and anti-infectives. But
Desh Bandhu Gupta, her father, wanted the company to make an impact in
the western market.
It was a challenge that seemed perfect for
Gupta who graduated in pharmacy from the University of Mumbai and then
spent a year working at the company in Mumbai. She then moved to the US
for an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at
Northwestern University, following it with a brief stint in a US pharma
company. But she didn't want to be a mere "cog in the wheel", returning
to India to take up that initial challenge-to create a business strategy
that would allow Lupin to enter American and European markets.
Today,
Lupin is the ninth largest generics company in the US. It is also one
of India's top five pharmaceutical players and one of the fastest
growing top 10 generic players in Japan and South Africa. The US arm of
the business, Gupta's baby, contributes to over 30 per cent of Lupin's
revenues, a company that clocked in close to Rs.4,000 crore in
2008-2009. Nine out of the 23 generic products Lupin has in the US
market are at the number one position giving consistent competition to
larger US pharma companies.
With
brother NileshThe beginning however was difficult. After all, India
wasn't very well known in the US market. "We realised that we had the
aspirations but not the infrastructure in the form of facilities to meet
US and European requirements and standards," she remembers. So she
spent three years building the infrastructure, creating a process that
would be acceptable to these regulated markets. The break came with
Suprax, a pediatric antiinfective drug that was valued at nearly $60
million in the US market. Gupta had already filed for a generic of the
brand. "Suddenly, we had the opportunity to brand the generic, so we
licensed the brand name from the innovator as he had left the market,"
she remembers. It was a three-person team with 40 outsourced sales
people.
Today, the product's sales are at $74 million. It has been
satisfying, she says. "The innovator was in the market with a sales
force of 300 people. We are 60." The aim, she says, has always been to
balance branded products as well as generic. The success, her father and
chairman of the company, Desh Bandhu Gupta, says, stems not just from
her determination. "It's also her intimate understanding of the entire
pharma spectrum with the motivation to see it through," he says.
This determination became obvious when she managed to persuade the dean
at Kellogg to give her admission, even though she was 19 and perhaps the
youngest in her class. It was a challenging time as she learned to
balance her work and household chores. "At that time in India,
everything was handwritten. I had to do every single thing using the
computer," says Gupta who often bribed her friends with homemade Indian
food to type out her projects. It taught her to be independent.
But
it was perhaps, two months ago, when Gupta a bigger challenge. A deal
that made tough seem an understatement. For Antara, an anti-cholesterol
drug. "It was very much like Suprax, that was serendipity," says Gupta.
It was a large product with high potential. But the company was in
bankruptcy. "I was sure we could do things differently with the
product," she says.
Gupta says Lupin was the first to file for the
generic brand. But they couldn't own the generic and the brand. She had
six weeks to sell the generic, win the bid in the US bankruptcy court
and buy the brand. She did it. At $38 million, one-third its market
value. It's a deal that Nilesh, her brother and group president and
executive director, believes displayed his sister's meticulous calibre.
"There were three sets of negotiations going on at the same time. And
while there were others involved, this deal was Vinita all the way," he
says.
Kamal Sharma, managing director, Lupin Limited, has watched
Gupta transform from a teenager learning the ropes of a business to the
successful go-getter that she is today. "She values, teaches and
encourages her people to deliver consistent results year after year," he
says. It's an attitude that is apparent from the get-go.
(L-R)
With Richa, Kavita, Anuja and NileshAt the Trident, Mumbai, for the
photo shoot, Gupta is comfortable surrounded by people, even though she
is a little hesitant in front of the camera. It's here that she actually
seems to shed the image of an ultimate powerhouse, a businesswoman
driven to succeed. It is here that she becomes the Mumbaikar who prefers
a masala chai over brewed coffee and a plain tee over a designer label.
In some ways, she is still the girl who grew up in a housing society
near the airport in Vile Parle, Mumbai. It's the kind of place where
people still keep their doors open and where one can walk into a
neighbour's house without having to knock. Things weren't handed to her
on a golden platter, she admits. In fact, she says, their father taught
them that, "as a family we would have to work harder to earn and deserve
our right more than what other professionals do."
As a child, she
remembers sharing a room with her four siblings, Kavita, Anuja, Nilesh
and Richa. She didn't like that very much. "But now, when I think of it,
I feel it was an amazing life," she says. Her father adds that he
always took his children to different countries, either on work or
otherwise. It was his way of showing them the world and different
experiences.
But a different side emerges as Gupta talks of the
pharma industry. "I dreamed of taking what Dad had built and adding
value to it in the western markets," she says. "This is what I had
always prepared myself for. I am living the dream." And it isn't as if
there aren't any downs. Six months ago, she remembers, the company
received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration. She
spent that time working to resolve their concerns. "And then three
months later, we made one of our most attractive acquisitions. The
industry is so quick changing, so dynamic. It always keeps you
thinking," she says.
For Nilesh though, Gupta is his sounding
board, the eldest sister with whom he shares a relationship that
complements their work profiles. And while Nilesh says with a laugh,
Gupta doesn't pull the bigsister act with him at work, home is a
different story. Gupta admits with a mock sigh, "You can't posture with
your siblings. You can posture with anyone else, but not your siblings."
With
husband Brij and son KrishThe obvious downside, however, is family. Her
work keeps her busy, sees her up and in office by 8 am, back just in
time to spend about an hour with her four-year-old son Krish. "He was a
very easy child till some time ago, but lately he has become very
demanding," she says with a smile. Just as Gupta was leaving her home in
Baltimore, Maryland for her current trip to India, Krish demanded they
go leaf-picking in their backyard. "More than anything, I loved watching
the expression on his face while we were picking leaves. His smile
brightens up my day," she says.
As much as her job is a passion
she tries to spend time with Krish and husband Brij Sharma, a
businessman whom she met in the US. "My husband is a very good listener.
I keep talking whenever I am with him and he listens even today," she
says with a laugh. A workout is a must, however, as Gupta heads to the
gym every day, spinning the cycle even when she was eight months
pregnant.
"My husband jokes that's the reason why Krish thinks and
behaves ahead of his age," laughs Gupta. But biking near the waterfront
with her son and spending time on her husband's boat is an activity
that wins hands down. As does time spent with her two sisters Anuja and
Richa, who live in Chicago. While Anuja is a pediatric cardiologist,
Anuja is into public health. They do plan vacations together, but she
often discovers that her brother Nilesh refuses to talk to her over the
weekend. "Probably because I always end up talking about work," she says
with a laugh. "It has become so much a part of our lives," she says.
Biggest Challenge
To
bring in the changes required that will continue to set the company
apart from the competition, and to attain a good work-life balance
In
June2012 , Vinita Gupta, CEO of Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc, the Indian
drug maker's US unit, received the "Entrepreneur of the Year" award from
Ernst & Young in the health services and technology category for
Maryland state of the US. Over the past year, the US business of Lupin
crossed the $500 million mark.
ms-vinita-gupta-ceo-lupin-pharma-winner-of-the-e-y-entrepreneur-of-the-year-2012-award
Ms Vinita Gupta, CEO, Lupin Pharma - Winner of the E&Y Entrepreneur
of the Year 2012 Award Singapore: Ernst & Young LLP have awarded
the Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Award in the Health Services and
Technology category to Ms Vinita Gupta, CEO, Lupin Pharmaceuticals. As a
Maryland award winner, Ms Gupta is now eligible for consideration for
the National Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Award. The award recognizes
outstanding entrepreneurs, who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary
success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal
commitment to their businesses and communities. Ms Gupta was selected by
an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a
special gala on June 28, 2012, at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront,
Maryland. Commenting on the award, Ms Vinita Gupta, CEO, Lupin
Pharmaceuticals said, "I am honored to receive this recognition on
behalf of our company. We have been very fortunate to have multiple
opportunities to grow and differentiate our organization while bringing
quality, affordable generics and valuable brands to the US market. The
passion, dedication and entrepreneurial spirit of our team has set us
apart from competition."\
With
siblings Kavita and Anuja (top left and right) and Richa and Nilesh
Gupta (to her left and right) during a family function in Mumbai in the
year 2008.
With son and husband at a family function in Mumbai in the year 2008.
A weekend, with husband Brij Sharma, and son Krish in Baltimore, US around 2009.
DB Gupta (centre) Chairman, Vinita Gupta (right) CEO and Nilesh Gupta
Lupin pune
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