Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom

For a long time, India had a poor reputation in the pharmaceutical industry over concerns about the quality of its generic drugs. Brand-name pharmaceutical companies, particularly those based in the US, saw generic companies as inferior and thought they were essentially stealing their hard-earned intellectual property.

One person who strove to change India’s reputation in the pharmaceutical world was Dr. Yusuf K. Hamied, the chairman of the generic drug company Cipla. He was the son of Khwaja Abdul Hamied, who was a student of Ghandi, and who founded Cipla. Ghandi encouraged Khwaja Abdul Hamied to manufacture drugs to help WWII soldiers, because Britain had promised India its independence if it helped with the war effort.

In 1970, the Indian government passed the Patents Act, which allowed generic drug manufacturers to produce and sell drugs without infringing on patent rights. Companies could copy brand-name drugs as long as they altered the manufacturing process.

Eban contrasts Cipla with Ranbaxy, which was founded by Bhai Mohan Singh, a member of a prominent Indian business family. Singh was more focused on profits and outwitting competitors than on helping people or bolstering the reputation of Indian generics. Singh’s sons bickered over the family business, leading to bitter conflicts between the sons, as well as between the sons and their father.