G.V. Prasad, co-chairman and MD of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, debates Mankind Pharma's Rajiv Juneja over whether Indian pharma's dependence on Chinese raw materials represents a national security threat.
“In COVID time, I'm telling you this, in COVID time, we had more reliable supplies from China than from Indian companies.”
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More from G. V. Prasad
Disclosure
Prasad: Dr. Reddy's clinical trials found no significant medical efficacy in turmeric
“We've done trials with turmeric, we didn't see significant.”
G. V. PrasadJun 17, 2026▶ 1:25:16Two Pharma Giants Who'd Never Met | Mankind & Dr. Reddy's | WTF is Pharma? · Nikhil Kamath
AssertionSupported
Prasad: E-pharmacies are highly capital intensive and Tata 1mg remains unprofitable
“Online business can happen, but then you require a huge amount of capital. It's not a twenty-five-year-old's job. Tata MG, One MG is still not profitable.”
G. V. PrasadJun 17, 2026▶ 48:34Two Pharma Giants Who'd Never Met | Mankind & Dr. Reddy's | WTF is Pharma? · Nikhil Kamath
Insight
Prasad: Scaling hospital chains is difficult because it is fundamentally real estate
“I think it's a very difficult game to scale because it's a real estate play at the end of the day.”
G. V. PrasadJun 17, 2026▶ 56:31Two Pharma Giants Who'd Never Met | Mankind & Dr. Reddy's | WTF is Pharma? · Nikhil Kamath
PredictionNot checkable as stated
Prasad: US 100% tariffs on non-US innovative drugs threaten Indian CDMOs
“No, if you're selling it to the US, and it's an innovative drug, not a generic drug, and it's not manufactured in the US, it's manufactured in India, there is a likelihood of a hundred percent tariff. So this affects our CDMO industry, the contract development…”
G. V. PrasadJun 17, 2026▶ 59:48Two Pharma Giants Who'd Never Met | Mankind & Dr. Reddy's | WTF is Pharma? · Nikhil Kamath
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Prasad: India profits more by converting cheap Chinese intermediates into finished APIs
“They're selling these cheap intermediates to us. We convert them into API. We make more money than them.”
G. V. PrasadJun 17, 2026▶ 1:14:11Two Pharma Giants Who'd Never Met | Mankind & Dr. Reddy's | WTF is Pharma? · Nikhil Kamath
AssertionSupported
Prasad: China is significantly ahead of India in developing biologic drugs
“Indian abilities and scientific and manufacturing abilities and biologics are lagging. China is way ahead of us in biologic drugs. I wouldn't say that in chemistry, but I'll say that in biologics.”
G. V. PrasadJun 17, 2026▶ 2:10:39Two Pharma Giants Who'd Never Met | Mankind & Dr. Reddy's | WTF is Pharma? · Nikhil Kamath
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