Zahid Farooq – Pharma Veterans Profile #1

Dear Pharma Veterans. It is part of the original concept that individual Pharma Veterans will be profiled. These men and women spent their entire work life in Pharma Industry and contributed enormously. They are a reason for celebration and a source for inspiration. Your comments and contributions are awaited. Would you like to have yourself profiled here? Please write to asrar@asrarqureshi.com ­­­­­­­­­­

Work Philosophy

“The two important factors that make an effective leader in pharmaceutical industry are having a clear vision and clear communication. First you should know what your objective is, and then be able to deliver it to your team. Your objective should be understood and appreciated by your team to achieve success. Your team should have the feeling that you care for them. Managers who look outside the box will have an edge over others”.

 Zahid Farooq retired recently from Schazoo (zaka). He had worked as Head of Sales and Marketing here for fifteen years. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Punjab University, Lahore.

The career Trajectory of Zahid Farooq is the story of constant and consistent achievement and consequent career progression. ZF is among the chosen few who joined at the entry position and rose to the top.

ZF started his career from Lederle as Medical Representative in 1973. After working at Rawalpindi and Multan for eight years, he was promoted as District Field Manager, which was unusually early considering the makeup of Lederle. Only three years later, he was upgraded as Product Manager and went to Karachi, which became his second home for the next eighteen years, from 1984 to 2002.

ZF handled the portfolio of Anti-TB drugs as PM. It is important to mention that Anti-TB was the biggest contributor in the Lederle business, and hence extremely important.

Anti-TB treatment has been historically limited to rather few drugs. After a long time, Lederle made a breakthrough with Ethambutol. Soon after, Rifampicin (Ciba and Gruppo Lepetit) made another breakthrough. TB patients had to take 3 – 5 drugs daily; number of tablets would be much more. It was cumbersome and inconvenient.

ZF developed the idea of fixed-dose combination (FDC) to reduce the number of tablets in consultation with stakeholders. He launched Myrin (Ethambutol + Rifampicin + Isoniazid) in 1986. There was some resistance to FDCs from some quarters initially. However, Myrin gained acceptance and became market leader within couple of years. He also launched Myrin-P (Ethambutol + Rifampicin + Isoniazid + Pyrazinamide) in 1988. It became market leader in the first year of launch.

Before the launch of FDCs, Patient noncompliance was a major problem in the treatment of Tuberculosis. This problem was solved with the introduction of FDCs. Development of these combinations reduced the stress of Anti-TB treatment, and Zahid Farooq holds credit for it.

ZF became Marketing Manager Lederle in 1990 and led the business to become double in four years.

In 1994, Wyeth acquired Lederle and merged it. After going through the initial hiccups of M&As, ZF became Director Sales in Wyeth.

Between 1998 and 2000, ZF worked for Roche as Head of Sales. He shifted to Lahore in 2002 and now lives here.

Zahid Farooq’s career spans 44 years. He can always look back and take satisfaction and pride in his growth and achievements. He is in excellent shape and we hope he will make more contribution to Pharma Business landscape.

Zahid Farooq can be reached at z-farooq@hotmail.com