Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella

Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella are the founders of Bharat Biotech International, a vaccine maker in Hyderabad. They were jointly named for the Padma Bhushan in 2022 in the field of trade and industry, from Telangana ^[1].

Back from America

Krishna Ella was born on 10 July 1955 ^[2]. He graduated in agriculture, earned a PhD at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and taught and did research at the Medical University of South Carolina in the United States ^[2]. In 1996 he and his wife, Suchitra Ella, returned to India to found Bharat Biotech, aiming to make new, affordable vaccines for neglected diseases ^[2]. Suchitra Ella is the company’s co-founder and joint managing director ^[2].

Vaccines for the developing world

At the time of the award the company had supplied more than five billion vaccine doses to more than 123 developing countries, including through UNICEF and Gavi ^[2]. It had filed 433 patents, including the first global patents for chikungunya and Zika vaccines, and Krishna Ella had led the development of 17 vaccines ^[2]. These include Rotavac against rotavirus, Typbar TCV, the first typhoid conjugate vaccine, and Covaxin, India’s first indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine ^[2].

The group also works on veterinary vaccines, farm technology and food processing ^[2]. Krishna Ella has served on the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet and the governing council of CSIR, and has received honorary doctorates from Amity University and a university of agricultural sciences in Shivamogga ^[2].