Hetero Drugs

Hetero Drugs is an Indian pharmaceutical company and the world's largest producer of anti-retroviral drugs. Hetero's business includes APIs, generics, biosimilars, custom pharmaceutical services, and branded generics.

Hetero Drugs Limited

Company type	Private
Industry	Pharmaceuticals
Founded	1993
Founder	Dr BPS Reddy
Headquarters	Hyderabad, India
Key people	Dr Vamsi Krishna Reddy Bandi
Number of employees	Over 22,000
Website	www.heterodrugs.com

Operations

Hetero group employs over 22,000 people. Hetero is a player in the active pharmaceutical ingredients market and finished dosages.^[1] It has marketing presence in over 140 countries.

Hetero Group's subsidiaries include Hetero Drugs, Hetero Labs, Hetero Research Foundation, Genx Laboratories and also foreign subsidiaries such as Camber Pharmaceuticals in the United States,^[2] Hetero Europe in Europe, Amarox Pharma Global in Indonesia, and Richmond Labs in Argentina. The group is also investing in the wind power industry with a goal to reach 1000 megawatts by 2017.^[3]

2009 Swine flu outbreak

In 2009, as the swine flu outbreak was spreading across the globe and various health organizations and government agencies were piling up stocks of Oseltamivir as precautionary measures, Hetero supplied generic Oseltamivir under its brand name Fluvir.^[4]

Hetero delivered 10 million doses of Oseltamivir to the Indian government in 2009,^[5] and shipped about 80 million doses to over 60 countries.^[6] Hetero received its second order from Indian government to supply another 10 million doses of Oseltamivir later in 2009.^[7]

COVID-19 experimental drugs

The company has launched the generic version of experimental COVID-19 drug Remdesivir under brand name Covifor after acquiring license from Gilead Sciences and obtaining approval from CDSCO, the Indian drug control authority.^[8] On 29 July 2020, the company launched its version of the anti viral drug Favipiravir under the brand name Favivir, after getting approval from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), used in the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients.^[9] On 27 November 2020, Hetero Labs signed an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to manufacture 100 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.^[10]