The Morning Brief Corner Office Conversation with Dilip Shanghvi, Chairman of Sun Pharma and Glenn Saldanha, Managing Director at Glenmark Pharma
Feb 23, 2026
Dilip Shanghvi, Chairman of Sun Pharma, built a pharma giant from focused therapy bets. Glenn Saldanha, Managing Director of Glenmark, pushed decades of innovation into landmark deals. They unpack growth from neglected therapy areas. They discuss shifting from generics to novel assets, clinical trial and policy reforms, talent return, attracting global R&D, and AI speeding drug discovery.
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Starting With Two Products And A Niche Bet
- Dilip Shanghvi began Sun Pharma with two products and targeted less competitive therapy areas like neurology by default.
- That early choice let the company ride India's shift to chronic disease care and grow faster than the broader market as those niches expanded.
25 Years Of Failure Then A Breakthrough
- Glenn Saldanha spent 25 years on innovation with repeated failures, spun out R&D into a US company, and persisted until ISB 2001 emerged as a world-class asset.
- The decade from 2010–2020 had failed trials and investor backlash, but focused pruning and funding eventually produced a major commercializable drug.
Innovation Becoming A Bigger Share Of Revenue
- Both companies expect innovative products to become a larger revenue slice, with Sun Pharma aiming to grow beyond ~20% from innovative drugs.
- Glenn plans commercialization of in-licensed oncology products and ISB 2001 across India and emerging markets as the next wave.