"Almost 70 pc of what we sell in India, we 'Make in India'": Pfizer MD Meenakshi Nevatia

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], November 11 : Pfizer Limited's Managing Director, Meenakshi Nevatia, has reaffirmed the company's dedication to India, highlighting its extensive "Make in India" initiatives. She emphasised that almost 70% of Pfizer's products sold in India are manufactured domestically, either through its own plant in Goa or via 18 contract partners.
Notably, Pfizer is expanding its research and development (R&D) capabilities, with 1,500 employees in Chennai and a research center at IIT Madras.
"We are 100 per cent committed to India. Our expansion takes different forms, starting with R&D, where we are continuously expanding. We have almost about 1500 people in Chennai, largely in our R&D organisation, including one centre at the IIT Madras Research Park, where we are just expanding our capacity. The second is manufacturing almost 70 per cent of what we sell in India, we make in India. Either with our own plant in Goa or also through contract partners, with almost 18 partners around the country. We also have an export-orientated unit for sterile injectables," said Nevatia in an exclusive interview with ANI.

The company is enhancing its manufacturing capacity in Goa and setting up an export-oriented unit for sterile injectables.
"So, manufacturing is the other area where we are continuously expanding in Goa. We are seeing some expansion as we are trying to bring more products to be manufactured in India. We are just in the middle of shifting a lot of our oncology chemotherapy products from Australia to Gujarat. We just recently launched an analytic centre for 80 people based out of Mumbai. And there's a lot more to come in that space. So I think if you look across our business system, each piece is expanding in its own way. As a result, the whole entity is definitely expanding its commitment to our country," she added.
Nevatia emphasized Pfizer's dedication to India, and said that the company is not just bringing medications but, working to increase access to diagnosis and healthcare.
"Our main purpose is to bring breakthroughs to change patients' lives, and as we look at how we can do that in India, a big part of it is to bring all our medications to the country as soon as possible. In addition, what we do realise is that the diagnosis of disease, the treatment of our people, and the access to healthcare are significantly lower than where we need to be," she said.
"We started in 2022 and the idea was, how can we encourage startups in healthcare, largely in the diagnostic and med tech space, how do we encourage startups in healthcare who are coming up with excellent ideas, but very often do not know what it takes to bring these ideas to market, how to develop them, how to validate them, and they need that additional support of funding, mentoring, and guiding that it takes them much longer to get from any other sorts of funds," she added.
"We first started with six startups in 2022 and we were extremely encouraged by the quality of ideas, the quality of people behind them, and their determination. Take it to become a product that can benefit patients. I think the idea was, you know, other than bringing our medications to the country. What else can we do to increase access to diagnosis and healthcare? And this is really a first step in that direction," she explained.
Pfizer Limited, in collaboration with NIPER-Ahmedabad, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, NITI Aayog, and Social Alpha, on Monday announced the six winners of the NIPER-A edition of Pfizer's flagship INDovation program for healthcare start-ups.
Recently, Pfizer has launched a specialised centre at a hospital in Gurugram and is planning to start more such centres to work on adult vaccination.
"We already have one product in the pneumococcal space for adult vaccination, and that is something that we are very heavily invested in. We're looking to bring more and more adult vaccinations into the country. Adult vaccination is very different from paediatric," she said.
"In adults, it's not just about having the best product, but it's also about building that ecosystem where the doctors are, having the right guidelines, creating patient awareness, and ensuring the distribution is correct at the right temperatures. So we are working towards all of that. We are already in the pneumococcal space with adult vaccination and looking to bring; continue to bring more products," she added.