The Serum Institute of India
The world's largest vaccine maker by doses, founded in 1966 by Cyrus Poonawalla and run by his son Adar.
What the paper can ask
- Founded 1966 by Cyrus Poonawalla; CEO Adar Poonawalla; part of the Poonawalla Group.
- Largest vaccine maker by volume, over 1.5 billion doses a year; early products included tetanus antitoxin, snake antivenom, DPT and MMR. (as of 23 Oct 2026)
- Produced Covishield, Covovax and Sputnik V during COVID-19; the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine with Oxford got WHO recommendation in October 2023.
- Bought Bilthoven Biologicals (Netherlands) in 2012, its first international acquisition.
Latest
CERVAVAC, SII's quadrivalent HPV vaccine (types 6, 11, 16, 18) for ages 9 to 26, received WHO prequalification in October 2026, the company's 32nd prequalified product.
Why exams ask
Its city, its founder, which vaccine it makes with whom, and its latest WHO prequalification are the usual questions.
The full story
The Serum Institute of India (SII) is a private biotechnology company founded in 1966 by Cyrus Poonawalla and part of the Poonawalla Group; Adar Poonawalla is its CEO. It makes more vaccine doses than any company in the world, over 1.5 billion a year: measles, polio, BCG, DPT and many others supplied to UNICEF and Gavi for immunisation programmes. During COVID-19 it produced Covishield (the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine), Covovax and Sputnik V.