The Lupin Story: How to build a pharma powerhouse

In 1948, a father in Rajasthan’s Rajgarh village carried his injured son on his shoulders for nearly three hours to reach a hospital 20 km away. That boy, Desh Bandhu Gupta, went on to set up Lupin in 1968, a company that today supplies medicines on a global scale.

Made in India: The Story of Desh Bandhu Gupta, Lupin and Indian Pharma, by Manish Sabharwal and Sundeep Khanna, follows that journey, but does not treat it as the story of one individual alone.

Gupta remains at the centre, but the book keeps bringing in the people around him, scientists, bankers, government officials and doctors, and shows how they influenced decisions at different stages.

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The science thread runs through the narrative. The influence of Vikram Sarabhai appears early as a reference for combining science with enterprise. Later interactions with academics such as Man Mohan Sharma reflect how ideas were examined and tested. Work with researchers like A V Rama Rao is shown as part of building capability within the company.

The role of institutions is present throughout. The book describes how Lupin accessed government tenders, worked through regulatory processes and secured bank funding. These are shown as part of the environment in which the company grew.

The early years are described through specific steps, finding space for a factory, arranging finance and building distribution. The first major order, for folic acid tablets, emerges from a public health requirement and is developed into a business opportunity through these efforts.

The broader policy setting is also part of the account. The change in patent law in 1970 is described as a shift that allowed Indian companies to develop alternative manufacturing processes and compete in the market. The book places Lupin within this larger change in the industry.

Across the book, the story moves through financing, production, contracts and collaborations. Each stage adds to how the company grows.

It reads as an account of how a business is built over time, through decisions, relationships and the conditions in which it operates.

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