Adar Poonawalla is the CEO of Serum Institute of India. The company is the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, according to the number of doses being manufactured. Serum Institute of India was founded in 1966 by Adar’s father Cyrus Poonawalla,

Early Life and Education

Adar studied at the Bishop’s School of Pune and then at St Edmund’s School Canterbury, after which he did his graduation from University of Westminster, London. Adar joined the Serum Institute of India, in 2001 post his graduation.

He turned his focus on exporting the company’s products to international markets, getting prequalified by World Health Organization for pharmaceutical supply to UN agencies like UNICEF. Now, more than 85 percent of revenue for Serum Institute of India comes from outside India.

Poonawalla is a board member of the GAVI Alliance, the global vaccine alliance. Adar Poonawalla became the CEO of Serum Institute of India, in 2011. He has played a key role in the acquisition of  Bilthoven Biologicals , a government vaccine  manufacturing company in Netherlands.

How Adar Poonawalla expanded Serum Institute of India

Adar Poonawalla also launched the oral polio vaccine for the Serum Institute, which went on to become the bestselling product for the company in 2014. He then increased the product vaccine portfolio for the company with vaccines for cervical cancer, dengue and flu.

Adar Poonawalla is known to be a man with a keen foresight and is never shy from taking initiatives.  He is also known to be a philanthropist and has won multiple awards for his contribution to the society by companies like GQ and CNN- IBN.

In March 2021, Adar was felicitated as the Entrepreneur of the Year by Economic Times for his unparalleled contribution in fighting Covid-19 by manufacturing Covishield in India and globally, a vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured in India by Serum Institute.

Adar Poonawalla’s partnering with AstraZeneca to build Covishield

By the second half of 2020, other companies across the world were investing and securing supplies in vaccines. Apart from Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech, no other pharma company in India, was really taking much of an initiative, not collaborating with any foreign developers.

Serum Institute however had a deal with AstraZeneca not to develop but manufacture a billion doses for them. Adar however asked for around ten percent of them to be given to India, which is no way enough, but still crucial enough to help the country. This was the only deal done by a private Indian company, it was a bet he took that has helped a lot of people in India.

Serum Institute of India took a big risk with the vaccine. because nobody knew if any vaccine was going to work at such a short notice. They invested $800 million of which, $270 million was raised by the company, and Gates Foundation, and other countries put the rest. 1000 employees worked on the program, and the company postponed all other product launches for 2020 by another 2 or 3 years, so that they could focus on Covishield.  The company began exporting to 68 countries, along with supply to India.

Why Adar Poonawalla left India for London temporarily

In a media interview with Times of London, Poonawalla stated that he has left India to move to London temporarily because of threats from influential and powerful people from India including business leaders and top politicians, asking them to give them vaccines before anyone else. He was already getting Y security from Indian government.

Now, we have to understand that he was in a deal with AstraZeneca and he has to honor that deal of supplying a certain billion number of vaccines, because after all AstraZeneca, has developed the vaccine’s formula.  Indian government should have asked Serum Institute and invested 200 crore for more vaccines for the country, which they didn’t do. Poonawalla said that he will manufacture Covishield vaccines outside India, apart from the production that his company was doing in India. He said in a tweet that he would be returning to India soon.

He also faced controversy over differential pricing of vaccines between the Centre and the state governments. Initially, one dose of Covishield was priced at ₹400 for state governments, which he later brought down to Rs. 300.

Adar Poonawalla’s wife – Natasha

Adar Poonawalla has a strong support system in the form of his wife, Natasha. He met Natasha at new year’s party in Goa, hosted by Vijay Mallya. The couple fell in love and married in 2006, they have two sons, Cyrus born in 2009 and Darius, in 2015. Born in 1981 to a Punjabi family, Natasha is the executive director of Serum Institute of India, director of Villoo Poonawalla Racing and Breeding Pvt Limited, and leads the Poonawala Charitable Foundation. She is also a fashion enthusiast.  Like Adar, Natasha is also known to be quite hardworking and always on the go. She is quoted to have said, “I will sleep when I am dead.” She says that when she got married, she had no idea about how a biopharma company ran or anything about horse-racing.

Poonawalla is part of one of the world’s richest families, which has a $15 billion fortune, a major part coming from the vaccine maker.

Cyrus, Adar Poonawalla – Net Worth, Businesses and Real Estate

Adar’s father Cyrus Poonawalla, the chairman and managing director of Serum Institute of India, has a net worth of $11.5 billion dollars, making him the 6th richest person in India, as of 2020. Apart from Serum Institute of India, the father and son duo own 6 other companies – Poonawalla Finance, a finance company, Bilthoven Biologicals, bio-engineering and pharmaceutical company,  Poonawalla Aviation Company, which offers chartered flight services,  Villoo Poonawalla Greenfield Farm,  a leading stud farm which rears and breeds prize winning horses, having won 13 champion breeders award to date,  Poonawalla Clean Energy which produces renewable sources of energy and Poonawalla Hospitality and Real Estate, a leading real estate company in Pune.

Cyrus Poonawalla started Serum Institute of India, back in 1966 with a budget of Rs. 9 lakh  or $12000 from selling horses, which was their family business, and borrowing the rest in cash from his father, Soli Poonawalla.  It is estimated that Serum Institute could rake in $4 billion in revenue, through Covid vaccine deals by 2022, and $1 billion possibly by the year end of 2021,

The Poonawalla family also owns real estate worth an estimated $525 million, stud farms, and about 250 acres of property and land in Mumbai and Pune.

According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, in the 5 months of lockdown in 2020, Cyrus Poonawala’s net worth rose from $7.4 billion to $13.8 billion, with Serum Institute partnering with global pharma companies around the world for making Covid 19 vaccine.

In London, Adar agreed to rent a property in Mayfair for 50000 pounds, which is around $69000 a week, a record of sorts for the premium London neighbourhood. The property, which is owned by a Polish billionaire Dominika Kulczyk, is about 25000 square feet.

Adar Poonawala’s car collection

How many in the world can boast of owning a bat-mobile? Adar Poonawalla can, he owns a bat-mobile which is a refurbished avatar of Mercedes S350.  For modifications, Poonawalla hired Mumbai-based Executive ModCar Trendz (EMT) and hired them for an estimated Rs 40 lakh to add the wings and long boot to the vehicle.

The Poonawalla’s car collection comprises of a wide range of Ferrari models, they also have the limited range Ferrari 458 limited edition with ‘P’ engraved on it. These models come from the Ferrari factory itself, there are only 499 such cars in the world and one of them belong the Poonawallas.

They also own the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG and Lamborghini Gallardo, both known for their awesome features, performance and looks.  They also own a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Bentley Continental Flying Spur,  a BMW 760 Li, a Porsche Cayenne and a Mercedes Benz S600