Shantha Biotechnics

Shantha Biotechnics Ltd. is an Indian biotechnology company based in Hyderabad. Shantha Biotechnics is the first Indian company to develop, manufacture and market a recombinant human healthcare product in India.

History

The genesis of Shantha Biotechnics Ltd can be traced back to the initiatives of Dr. K I Varaprasad Reddy, the Founder and Managing Director. Dr. Varaprasad, an electronics engineer by profession, established the company in 1993 with the sole purpose of developing efficacious but cost effective vaccines and therapeutics that are within the reach of the common man.

The seeds of this ambitious venture were sown in Geneva at a conference on global programs for immunization. This is where Dr.Varaprasad first realized the pressing need for an affordable Hepatitis-B vaccine for India. At that point in time, the high cost of the imported vaccine rendered it out of reach for most segments of society.

Aware that the price of the vaccine had to be drastically reduced in order for the government of India to include it in the National Immunization Program, Dr. Varaprasad decided to develop the technology in-house rather than importing it at a higher cost. His early years in R&D had given him confidence in Indian scientific talent and he was convinced that given a conducive atmosphere we could put India on the map for Genetic Engineering.

The initial years were tough. Banks and financial institutions viewed the project skeptically and refused to fund the project. The...
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