Last October, Mankind Pharma completed acquisition of Bharat Serums and Vaccines (BSV). Earlier, last July, it had struck a deal to buy BSV    from American private equity company Advent International for Rs 13,768 crore. BSV has developed recombinant and niche biological products in house, demonstrating strong R&D capabilities. It boasts of a robust branded product portfolio across women’s health, fertility, critical care and immunoglobulins.

This strategic acquisition marks a significant leap for Mankind Pharma, positioning it as a market leader in the Indian women’s health and fertility drug market, alongside access to other high-entry barrier products in critical-care segment with established complex research and development (R&D) technology platforms.

The BSV deal is a giant leap for Mankind Pharma’s next big growth, which has been planned by its promoters – the Juneja brothers – over three decades ago. The New Delhi-based pharmaceutical company – which was started by Ramesh Juneja and his younger brother, Rajeev Juneja, way back in 1995 – has surged up the Indian pharmaceutical industry hierarchy in carefully-calculated moves to become the country’s fourth-largest pharmaceutical company by sales.  

Equally inspiring is the story of the Juneja brothers, who have transformed mankind Pharma into an over Rs 10,000-crore company with more than 1,000 approved products reaching over 34 countries across the globe. After completing his graduation in science, Ramesh Juneja started his career in 1974 with KeePharma, working as a medical representative. In 1975, he joined Lupin and worked there as first-line manager for almost 8 years. In 1983, Ramesh Juneja resigned from Lupin and started his own company Bestochem in partnership. In 1994, he withdrew his ownership from Bestochem and in 1995 started Mankind Pharma along with his younger brother Rajeev Juneja.

Ramesh Juneja, the 69-year-old chairman of Mankind, teamed up with his younger brother Rajeev Juneja – who is now the managing director of the company – and built an initial force of around 25 sales representatives to market their consumer healthcare products such as condoms, pregnancy test kits, emergency contraception pills and acne treatment products. 

Mankind carved a niche for itself by storming into rural markets and smaller cities and towns and slashing its drug prices. The company’s aggressive sales force meticulously reached out to places where others had not tapped. The Juneja brothers tapped doctors in smaller towns and villages to sell their products. Besides, their products were very competitively priced to capture the vast rural and semi-urban markets.

Another bold move was the aggressive branding and advertising campaign that was unleashed to shock and grab market attention to their brands of condoms and other healthcare products. Brand names such as Manforce condoms, Gas-o-Fast antacids and HealthOK multivitamins with their in-your-face commercials soon became the talk of the town. The aggressive marketing campaigns, bold brand names and low-priced products helped Mankind grow rapidly across villages and tier-II and –III towns.

Having grabbed a large market share, Ramesh Juneja has got Mankind to diversify into higher-growth, higher-margin, prescription drugs treating cardiac ailments, diabetes and other major diseases. In fact, the recent acquisition of BSV is a part of that plan to take Mankind’s growth to the next level. And the Juneja brothers appear to be well poised to push Mankind further up the pharmaceutical industry ranking.