When Dr Satyanarayana Chava started Laurus Labs in 2007, he invested nearly Rs 60 crore of his own money into it. His confidence in its success was neither bravado nor bluster, but defined by his knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry. Eight years on, the Hyderabad-based company is on track to reach revenues of Rs 2,000 crore by the end of FY2016.
Chava, now 52, has more than two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry; in his last job, he was chief operating officer (COO) of the successful startup, Matrix Laboratories. Of his 10 years there, he says with pride, “I never skipped a promotion and got to work in all departments.” His dedication, coupled with a sound understanding of what it takes to start a pharmaceutical company, is what makes Laurus Labs among the hottest startups in this sector.
Initially, Chava planned the business around research and development (R&D). He wanted Laurus Labs to focus on contract research and make money from royalties. “In India, companies start with manufacturing and then get into R&D,” he explains. “I did it the other way round.” He focussed his fledgling company’s resources on developing formulations for medicines, and licensed them to other pharmaceutical players. In the early months, Laurus Labs had 10 people in manufacturing and 300 in R&D.
In June 2007, Aptuit, a US-based contract research organisation (CRO), signed it on for a $20 million (then Rs 80 crore) contract. But despite this injection of funds, Chava was unable to sustain his original idea of developing technologies for other companies. At the time of the Aptuit deal, Laurus Labs’s annual revenues were not even $20,000 (Rs 8 lakh at the time). In 2008, Chava decided to start manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), which, as the name suggests, are chemicals or key ingredients in drugs required to make the medication work. His early investment into R&D benefitted Laurus Labs; it maintains a large repository of research-based knowledge that forms the bedrock of any successful pharmaceutical business.
Today, it is a key manufacturer supplier of APIs and holds its own against better-known competitors like US generic drug giant Mylan, which, incidentally, acquired a controlling stake in Matrix around the time Chava founded Laurus Labs. It has also carved a niche for itself by supplying antiretroviral or ARVs (used to fight infections caused by retroviruses like HIV) and oncology drugs. And despite being a relatively new player, its clients include giants like Pfizer, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Merck.
The person behind it
A Master’s degree in chemistry was never on the cards for Chava. In the early 1980s, the best students usually studied physics, and he had planned to do the same. But when he went to his college in Amravati (Andhra Pradesh) to enroll, his elder sister’s friend suggested he study chemistry too. Chava took up the subject on a whim. He ended up liking chemistry so much so that in his final year he topped his batch despite not having written one out of the four required papers. He went on to complete his PhD in the subject in 1991.
Upon graduating, he was hired by Ranbaxy Laboratories in Delhi as a researcher. In those early years itself Chava knew he’d spend a lifetime in the industry. He enjoyed the work and gained valuable experience as a young researcher in what was then India’s finest pharmaceutical company.
But through his years in the industry, Chava was conscious of the fact that he needed to broaden his experience outside of research. His stint at Matrix Laboratories afforded him that opportunity. As it was a startup, he was able to rise through the ranks quickly and got the opportunity to work in key departments from sales and marketing to finance and accounts. Within eight years of joining Matrix, he became its COO.
This experience was to come in handy when, due to differences with the board—he refused to elaborate on this—he decided to leave Matrix and set up Laurus Labs. And though he is the company’s chief executive officer (CEO), Chava remains true to his calling as a chemist. He has strived to build an organisation that is not very hierarchical. It is not uncommon to see him interacting with the chemists in the company and discussing formulations with them—something unheard of in an industry where most CEOs are from a sales and marketing background.
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(This story appears in the 18 September, 2015 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
My dear friend really you are doing great. I wish you a grand success to you
on May 10, 2016Sir, you are a down to earth person. Hats off to your on your success for Laurus labs
on May 10, 2016Being known him for longtime, I can not stop admiring his business intilegence combined with his technical expertise. Outside his business world, he is a very humble, honest and down to earth gentleman. We wish all the best for his future endeavours.
on Dec 2, 2015Its nice to see LAURUS LABS PRIVATE LIMITED; company incorporated in 19/09/2005 from Visakhapatnam; Andhra Pradesh creating mark in global pharma market. Key founder Members Mr SATYANARAYANA CHAVA, Mr KALIDINDI SRIHARI RAJU & Mr VENKATA RAVI KUMAR VANTARAM have put a stepping stone for future pharma entrepreneurs
on Sep 15, 2015