Cyrus Poonawalla

Cyrus S. Poonawalla is an Indian businessman, the chairman of Poonawalla Group, which includes Serum Institute of India, the Indian biotech company that manufactures paediatric vaccines.

  • Son of a race horse breeder, Cyrus Poonawalla founded Serum Institute of India in 1966 and built it into one of the world’s largest vaccine makers.
  • Serum produces 1.5 billion doses annually of a range of vaccines, including for measles, polio and flu.
  • His U.K.-educated son Adar is Serum’s CEO and helps him run the company. He has diversified into finance with Poonawalla Finance.
  • Serum owns Dutch vaccine maker Bilthoven Biologicals and the Czech unit of U.S. firm Nanotherapeutics.
  • In June 2019, Poonawalla was conferred the honorary degree of the Doctor of Science by the University of Oxford in the U.K.

Cyrus Poonawalla Serum Institute of India