Dr Krishna Ella’s father was farmer in Tamil Nadu

Chennai

Dr Krishna Ella’s father was a simple farmer in Thiruttani, which is at the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Dr Ella always wanted to take up traditional farming as his profession, but it was his father who pushed him to move outside the country and try another profession. He still pursued his love for agriculture by doing his graduation from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru. In an interview, Dr Ella said his plan was to keep farming after studying agriculture, but due to economic pressure, he joined a chemicals and pharmaceuticals company. He later moved out of India to study in the US, but many years later, he returned to set up Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad. According to reports, he said his mother asked him to return and pursue whatever he wanted. “So I came back to India with a business plan to create a cheaper hepatitis vaccine as there was a heavy demand for it in India.” Today, Bharat Biotech, the company he founded has got global attention after being granted the emergency use permission to its vaccine - Covaxin. Reacting to backlash over accusations of getting permission even before the trials were complete, Dr Ella said his company has an established track record in producing 16 safe and efficacious vaccines. “Don’t accuse us of inexperience. We are a global company...have manufactured 16 vaccines. It is not correct to say we are not transparent with data,” he said.