Cipla Quiz: Test Your Pharma Knowledge

Cipla was established in Mumbai in 1935, during British colonial rule, when India was almost entirely dependent on expensive imported medicines. Its full name was carefully chosen to reflect the founder's vision of building a self-reliant Indian pharmaceutical institution.

Cipla was founded in 1935 by a scientist who trained as a chemist in Europe and returned inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's Swadeshi philosophy. His mission was building an indigenous pharmaceutical industry capable of producing affordable medicines for India's vast population.

World War II severely disrupted global pharmaceutical supply chains, creating critical shortages across Allied military theatres in Asia. Indian manufacturers played a vital role by supplying troops with essential medicines and nutritional supplements to maintain their combat readiness.

In the early 2000s, Cipla played an important role in global healthcare by making life-saving HIV medicines affordable and accessible to millions of patients across developing countries, helping stop the virus from multiplying and preventing the progression from HIV infection to AIDS.

In July 2020, during the early COVID-19 pandemic phase, Cipla launched an antiviral drug in India under a voluntary licence from an American biopharmaceutical firm. The medicine disrupts the enzyme the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to replicate, reducing severity in hospitalised patients.