Indian envoy holds meetings with CEOs of top US companies on COVID-19 crisis

The Indian envoy in the US is having an intense engagement with the CEOs of top American companies, particularly from the pharma sector, to help India get the necessary medical equipment and drugs to successfully combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, tweeted: "Spoke today afternoon with Medtronic CEO Geoff Martha on their support in India's fight against the pandemic, including through supply of ventilators along with other partners."

"Also discussed the supply of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machines and enhanced investments in the healthcare sector in India, " Sandhu said after one of the series of meetings that he has had with top American pharma sector CEOs.

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Medtronic has been supporting India in its battle against COVID-19. Being part of the Global Task Force, it has provided ventilators and is also offering training for its use.

During the virtual meeting, Sandhu also highlighted that the knowledge and education partnership is a key pillar of the India US relationship. Medtronic has two research centres in India.

Sandhu also had a meeting with Michael Stubblefield, President and CEO of Avantor, an American life sciences company.

Avantor, a Fortune 500 company, is supplying raw materials to several companies, including those for Novavax vaccine production; and biological-E covid vaccine.

So far, the Indian Ambassador has met several CEOs of top American companies to have discussions on COVID-19 related issues.

Prominent among them are Saifi Ghasemi, CEO of Air Products; AdvaMed CEO Scott Whitaker, Albert Bourla from Pfizer with whom he had two separate meetings; Walmart CEO Doug McMillon; Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell; United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby; Thermofisher Scientific CEO Marc Casper and Pall Corporation CEO Joseph Repp.

He also had meetings with Boeing Corporation CEO David Calhoun; Antylia Scientific CEO Bernd Brust; Cytiva CEO Emmanuel Ligne; Genentech CEO Alexander Hardy; Fujifilm Irvine Scientific president Tim Mullane and Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks. He also held meetings with the leadership of Johnson & Johnson and Ligand Pharma.

India on Wednesday added 1,32,788 new coronavirus infections, taking the country's tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,83,07,832. The country's COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,35,102 with 3,207 fresh deaths.