INDIAN PHARMA ICON Dr.ANJIREDDY NO MORE

Anji Reddy, the founder and Chairman of nation's second-largest drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, died today.Reddy, who founded DRL in 1984, was ailing for some time, a company statement said. He was 72.He died of liver cancer at 1545 hrs at the Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad.Many in the industry saw in him a drug discovery pioneer. Dr Reddy set up his R&D facility at what was once his farm.A chemical engineer who also served as a member on Prime Minister's Council on Trade & Industry, Reddy is survived by wife Samrajyam, daughter Anuradha and son K Satish Reddy, who is the managing director and COO of the company. His son-in-law G V Prasad is the Vice Chairman and CEO of the company.In April 2011, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest Civilian Awards in India, recognising his distinguished service of high order in the field of Trade and Industry.Reddy spearheaded and founded the Neo-natal Intensive Care and Emergencies called 'NICE Foundation', the only institute for new-borns in Asia. He spent his early years in the village Tadepalli, Guntur District in the banks of Krishna River, where his father grew turmeric. He studied in Anapothana ZPHS School in Nutakki from fifth to Tenth Class in his mothers sister house. Reddy after graduating from the local high school, went on to get his first Bachelor of science degree from A.C. College at Guntur in 1958. Thereafter he, did his B.Sc.-Tech in Pharmaceuticals and Fine chemicals from Bombay University followed by a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune in 1969. He started his career in the state-owned PSU, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) (1969–1975), when he left the job to found Uniloids Ltd in 1976 of which was also the and managing director of till 1980, when he founded Standard Organics Limited, before founding Dr Reddy's Labs in 1984 with an initial capital of Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million). Over the years, it transformed Indian bulk drug industry from import-dependent in mid-80s to self-reliant in mid-90s and finally into the export-oriented industry. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has been credited with turning the Indian bulk drug industry from dependence on imports in the mid 1980s to self reliance in the mid 1990s and finally into the export-oriented industry that it is today. It was the first company to take up drug discovery research in India (in 1993). In April 2001 Dr Reddy’s Labs became the first Asian pharmaceutical company outside Japan to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has revenues of $546 million (Rs.2,427 crore) during the fiscal year 2006 and is India’s second largest pharmaceutical company.