“As leaders, we don’t build businesses, we build enduring legacies”.
Girish Arora (Founder & MD, Alniche Lifesciences)
‘Attached to the ground and aiming the sky’ is the principle that Girish Arora, the Founder and Managing Director of Alniche Lifesciences, one of the most renowned pharma companies follows. A sharp-witted professional, Girish’s tale from a meticulous Sales Marketing expert to victoriously heading Pharma companies in India is an inspiration for those aiming to reach skyrocketing heights.
In the early phase of his career, Girish worked at the grassroot level to understand the importance of the customer-centric account management approach. This strategy laid the foundation of a sparkling career for him as he chaired leadership roles in various pharma companies in India. It included aiding in establishing leading companies like Cipla, Micro, and Emcure in the segment of Niche therapies – Nephrology and Critical care.
Furthermore, developing new products always fascinated Girish. He is probably the first among in India, who envisaged collaborating with Academia, for innovative products with IIT Chennai.
His extensive experience, keen eye for detail, deep understanding of the healthcare industry, and versatile roles that he played in prestigious pharma companies groomed his business acumen to put him in the right direction to launch his own business venture Alniche Lifesciences.
THE LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
Girish is a leader of consummate personality with his unique and result-oriented values and beliefs. His ingenuity to pick the right talent for forming an empowered team, charisma that keeps the team motivated, and nurturing a meritocratic environment that rewards performers have facilitated a cohesive and high-performing team of top-notch senior professionals.
Furthermore, Girish believes in mentoring the team closely as it fosters transformational learning and personal enrichment. The emotional bond that he shares with each member of the Alniche team creates a distinctively placed organization, where Ownership, Answerability, and Results are the mantra for every member of Alniche.
ALNICHE LIFESCIENCES
The Tale of Establishment
With an undeterred objective to upgrade healthcare delivery and improve the lives of millions of people across the nation, Girish laid the foundation of Alniche Lifesciences in 2007. Alniche, which is recognized as today’s foremost pharmaceutical organization, had a modest beginning with limited investment. Girish still recalls the crucial days when his industry networks helped him with products and supplies. Leveraging inspiration from family, mentors, colleagues and applying his in-depth domain expertise acquired over the years, Girish spearheaded Alniche to a unique position in the highly competitive healthcare market.
Headquartered in New Delhi, Alniche Lifesciences is a highly renowned and dynamic Pharmaceutical company that markets specialized, effective, high quality, affordable, and value-for-money medicines and wellness products across the nation.
In Girish’s words, “Today, Alniche has 800+ employees with 1500+ distribution points both for prescription and OTX brands, covering 70,000 doctors and 30,000 hospitals. This Pan India expansion is attained as we invest the earnings back into the organization to introduce new therapy areas and field expansion.”
At present, Alniche is present in six therapeutic segments namely Nephrology, Critical Care, Gastroenterology, Dermatology, Neuropsychiatry and Cardiac Diabetes Care. It has more than 350 products in the market which belong to various therapeutic groups. With deep knowledge of the disease area, support of the medical fraternity, and complete devotion towards his goal, Girish has successfully taken the company to sky heights.
WHAT SETS ALNICHE LIFESCIENCES APART FROM THE REST?
With a strong product portfolio, both domestically manufactured and licensed from global pharma, Alniche fulfils the unmet needs of patients in the areas of nephrology, critical care, gastroenterology, dermatology, neuro-psychiatry and cardiac diabetes care.
Quality, for Alniche, holds pivotal importance, therefore all the manufacturers are certified with ISO, WHOGMP, and c-GMP certifications. Each product at Alniche goes through stringent testing during the manufacturing process, leaving no room for quality grievance.
Furthermore, it has its own Medical and Pharmacovigilance department that is engaged in PMS and coordination with manufacturers to ensure quality compliance.
CHALLENGES FACED
Life has given its due share of challenges to Girish. When he started envisioning the dreams of founding his own pharma company, the first challenge was to compete against global and well-established organizations that had earned the faith and trust of doctors.
Other hurdles like financial constraints, finding the right people based in Delhi, maintaining quality, and gaining the trust of doctors didn’t stop Girish to set the path for the establishment, growth, and diversification of Alniche as he believes ‘’in the middle of every difficulty lies the opportunity to grow.’’
ADDITION TO PRODUCT PORTFOLIO
Alniche is a pioneer in conceptualizing and commercializing several novel product concepts in India to enrich product portfolio, like:
- Ketoanalogue – Double Strength Tablet and Sachet Form reducing Pill Burden and limit the intake of fluid for Patients with Kidney Impairment
- Auxisoda – Enteric-Coated Tablets Preventing GI Irritation
- Research & Patented Products (Complipro & Ezepro – Ready-To-Drink Protein Formula) in Collaboration with DPSRU. These Products are launched by Shri Anil Baijal (Honorable Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Govt. of N.C.T.)
- Wetfast MD – Mouth Dissolving Lozenge Reducing the Overload of Fluid in CKD Patients
- Entasafe – a Unique Combination of Pre-Probiotics & Minerals to Control the Adverse Effects of Long-Term Use of PPIs
GROWTH PROJECTIONS FOR ALNICHE
Alniche started with a prime focus on the Nephrology segment. Afterward, it expanded its portfolio, which helped Alniche record ambitious growth and milestones. Over the next decade, Girish envisions expanding market share in existing therapies, launching new therapy and allied healthcare verticals, and making Alniche one of the top 10 pharma companies in India.
Girish also plans to venture in exports to support licensing initiatives through Alniche’s manufacturing plant Effikasia. Alniche is all set to expand its presence across the nation and global markets. Additionally, the firm is ready to mark its much-needed presence in the complementary market of Medical Devices and Consumables in the selected therapy areas that align well with the pharma range.
FEATHERS IN THE CAP
In the veins of Alniche, runs its deep philosophy i.e. Inspired By Value, Driven By Vision. Girish’s striking efforts have made Alniche a name to reckon with. His business acumen, an inherent ability to take risks and his unconventional approach are leading to ‘three to four folds’ growth of Alniche in comparison to similar-sized players in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Since its inception, Alniche has added many feathers to its cap by winning various prestigious national and international honors. Some of them are:
- Best Organization in Nephrology drugs & Novel Formulations Award – Business Sphere, New Delhi, India
- Fastest growing brands & Leaders Award – Asia One, Dubai, UAE
- Excellence in Pharmaceutical Brand Management Award (New Product Launch) by CPhI, Netherlands (India Pharma Awards 2019)
- Healthcare Elite Award – Business APAC, India
- Super 30 Companies Award – Silicon Review, New Jersey, USA
- Noteworthy Biotech & Pharma company – Business APAC, India
- Company of the year 2019- Business Connect, India
- 10 companies with most disruptive innovation by Business Berg, Dublin, Ohio, USA.
- Pharma CEO of the year – Time2Leap Awards – MSME edition issued by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises India
- Emerging brand of the year Time2Leap Awards – MSME edition issued by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
- The 10 Outstanding Healthcare giants in India – The CEO Magazine
- The Outperformer, Indian Business Legends – Forbes India
- Prestigious Brands of India 2021 – Herald Global, BARC ASIA
- Excellence in Healthcare – Times Group
- Most Trusted Pharmaceuticals Company in India – Innovative Zone
OTHER EXCLUSIVE PROJECTS
Apart from the above-mentioned achievements, the company has created numerous projects in the arena of healthcare and education to give itself new wings in the market. Some of its exclusive projects are:
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DRSC: Focused On Healthcare Experts
DRSC team focuses on providing educational and scientific information to doctors, practicing physicians, nutritionists, paramedics, medical enthusiasts by providing online access to literature search, case studies, educational presentations, in-clinic digital presentation, and scientific articles.
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My Healthytude: Focused On Masses, Patients, and Caregivers
The team at Alniche educates patients on their health conditions to foster better engagement with Healthcare Providers. It is delivering complete and current information to the patients with an aim to create an atmosphere of trust, enhance the doctor-patient interaction and enable patients to take an interest in their healthcare. My Healthytude promotes healthy lives and wellbeing for everyone, everywhere, at all ages, and shares health-related information on all social media platforms. On this platform, Health experts share their views through Reels, WebPosters, Videos, and Webinars to educate patients.
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Alniche Health: Focused On CKD Patients
Alniche Health app offers a wide range of information like Kidney health, exercises, daily health routine, burst the myths revolving around a diet of CKD and dialysis patients, and include easy and healthy recipes safe for patients within the nutritional guidelines. This app not only helps patients and their caregivers but also saves doctor’s time by educating patients about maintaining kidney health.
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TED: Focused On The Sales Team
Through the TED portal, each team member can access training modules anytime, anywhere, bringing the convenience of time, consistency of updates, the accuracy of brand knowledge, and progress report to monitor improvement. TED is employee-centered and offers a great deal of flexibility in terms of time and location. This e-learning method enables Alniche to customize its learning tools based on the needs of the learners.
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Alniche Tele Consultancy: Focused On Doctors and Patients
Alniche DRiefcase Connect is a comprehensive & highly customizable practice management platform for doctors to improve their practice and engage their patients. It helps patients manage their medical records, book appointment digitally, and Video/Audio consultations. As doctors get a greater number of patients and patients save time and money for traveling long distances to consult doctors, it’s a win-win situation for both doctors and patients.
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In-Reach: Focused On Doctors and Chemists
The PreCovid era was more focused on face-to-face interaction of the Sales team with doctors and chemists. However, Covid brought a jolt to this system. Therefore, realizing the need of the hour, Alniche adopted digitalization (i.e. use of Emailer and SMS) to inform doctors and chemists about existing and upcoming brands.
THE PHILANTHROPIC APPROACH
The Pearl of wisdom “Philanthropy lies at the heart of human greatness” inspires leaders like Girish to give back to society. He firmly believes that a cohesive society is the foundation of a strong nation. He is actively involved in making healthcare accessible to the needy and enthusiastically helps organizations that are supporting the cause of female education and hygiene and charitable healthcare centres.
GIRISH’S INSPIRATION
Girish’s father is his biggest inspiration. He fondly remembers how his father used to always motivate him to go for simplicity, do hard work, be humble and have empathy with others as these are the principles for success.
Besides, he has drawn his professional inspiration from two industry leaders – A.K Khanna and NK Ummat. Mr. Khanna taught him the power of personal relations with customers and task orientation while Mr. Ummat was an example of how a Senior Manager can make a notable difference in the lives of his team by showing them the right direction and motivating them to bring extraordinary results to the table.
Despite great odds and risks, Girish’s perseverance, go-getter approach, and optimistic outlook have accelerated the building of a thriving company that sets new standards of excellence. It is through his vision that Alniche has been constantly aiming for success backed by the quality of its portfolio.
Endowed with a sanguine attitude and humanitarian heart, Girish has been able to charter his company to great heights.
