MNC drug body OPPI names Sharad Tyagi as President

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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The Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), which represents multinational pharmaceutical companies, on March 4 named Sharad Tyagi as its President.

Tyagi's appointment will come into effect from April 1, 2020. He will hold office for a period of three years.

Tyagi is Managing Director, Boehringer Ingelheim India, and has also been a Vice President and Executive Committee of OPPI for the past ten years, heading important Work Groups & Committees for OPPI.

He replaces A Vaidheesh, Managing Director, India, Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK). Vaidheesh will also be retiring from GSK on March 31.

"Expanding healthcare access; fostering research and innovation and leveraging health data are the three emerging patient-centred themes. The research-based pharmaceutical industry continues to play our role in reimaging India’s healthcare landscape as we remain committed to our purpose which is to bring newer and better medicines to every citizen of the country," said Tyagi.

Change  of guard

OPPI has recently made changes at secretariat level. It appointed KG Ananthakrishnan as Director General of OPPI, replacing Kanchana TK. Ananthakrishnan was former Vice President and Managing Director, South Asia Region at MSD India.

OPPI, which used to play an influential role in shaping India's health policies, has ceded that space to the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), the lobby group controlled by large domestic pharmaceutical companies.

To be sure, OPPI and IPA are increasingly on same page with respect to most issues affecting Indian pharma industry such as price controls and drug quality.

During the tenure of Vaidheesh, the outgoing President, OPPI has worked on innovative healthcare financing models; robust OTC guidelines; and collaborative PPP (public private partnership) models with states.