Leadership & Administration

Dr Guna S. Muppuri was born and brought up in the southern Indian town of Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. He graduated with MBBS in 1991 from Sri Venkateswara Medical College, Tirupati A.P India, and later interned from the University Hospital of the West Indies in 1992.

Bioprist Group is a fully owned family enterprise of Dr. Muppuri that holds almost 80 per cent of the listed company Indies Pharma Jamaica Ltd and 100 per cent of the several subsidiaries under the Bioprist Group, including BIMS SOM-HP.

He worked as a family physician in the public and private sectors of Jamaica for more than 20 years, prior to venturing into the generic pharmaceutical business. At the age of 35, in 2005 he became the principal founder and CEO of Indies Pharma Jamaica Limited, thus beginning Dr. Muppuri’s long and fruitful association with the field of pharmaceutical business. The company has established itself as a leader in the field of branded generic pharmaceuticals and is currently listed on the Junior market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

As a medical practitioner, he was faced with the harsh reality of the difficulties surrounding the average Jamaican’s ability to afford prescription medications. Making medicines available and affordable became his prime concern.

First initiative taken as CEO of Indies Pharma Jamaica Limited was to bring down the monthly cost of Clopidogrel – the prophylactic medication for stroke disorder (registered as the leading cause of deaths in Jamaica since 1999). The target was to make the cost for a month’s supply come down to J$1,500 versus the cost of the branded drug at J$8,250. Dr. Muppuri’s aim was to provide an uninterrupted supply of this medication to Jamaicans through the National Health Fund at a low cost. The same drug was made available under the National Health Fund benefits for J$125 for a month’s supply, down from J$1,500 per month for the branded formulation.

Second important initiative taken by him was in 2007 to free the people of unjustified patent standoff involving Amlodipine, medication for severe hypertension. Once the drug was free of the patent, it was supplied by Indies Pharma through the National Health Fund at a very low cost.

Third important initiative he has taken is to establish Medical Tourism in Jamaica by developing 65 acres in Montego Bay to create the state-of-the-art Medical City with USJCC 300 Bedded Hospital.

BIMS (SOM-HP) is now the new addition to the never-ending list of his serial entrepreneurial journey, fulfilling his dream of establishing a novel and a state-of-the-art nearshore School of Medicine with the technology driven teaching at the pinnacle of training the future medical professionals, to be recognized as one of the best cohort of medical professionals in the world. 

In 2015, Dr. Muppuri ventured into the BPO (business process outsourcing) field leading to the establishment of Bioprist Knowledge Parks based on the motto’ Empowering Economies’. This project is being pursued in several phases and is responsible for creating 1,400 jobs in the BPO industry.

He later acquired the multi-million-dollar former Jockey International Industrial complexes in Hanover and St James in Jamaica and transformed them into world-class BPO facilities and Innovation centers and continued to add more specific built offices space – Special Economic Zone Developments.

Dr. Muppuri has given back to the society what he has received from it with the belief that developing communities is more than providing employment.

A few notable ones are:

• Pledged two acres of land at Grand Ridge Med City in Montego Bay for setting up an autism clinic, a school for physically challenged children and an orphanage.
• Established “BIOPRIST SCHOLASTIC FUND” with J$11.4Million to offer scholarships to the students enrolled at BIMS- SOM-HP.

Others in the past are:

* In 2015 he developed a summer exchange program for Jamaican children and the United States medical universities thereby providing exposure to Jamaican children to global developments in healthcare education.

*Supporting the 30-bed spinal care center to be built at Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre in Mona, Kingston.

*Distribution of asthma inhalers among the public.

*Donations to the National Health Fund.

*Scholarships to 18 medical and pharmacy students.

*Donations to the Hope Clinic-Good Shepherd Foundation.

The ambitions and trajectory of the Bioprist Group under Dr Guna Muppuri have led to him being christened “The Repurposing Specialist”. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards which include the following:

• 2021 – Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship.
• Caribbean Honor of Excellence by the Trinidadian ANSAMAL Foundation; Received from His Excellency Sir Patrick Allen, Governor General of Jamaica; The award included a gift of TT$500K (J$12Mil), which was pledged by Dr. Muppuri towards the corpus fund to assist the students enrolled at BIMS SOM-HP.
• OD – ORDER of DISTINCTION, National Honor was conferred to Dr. Muppuri in 2021 by the Government of Jamaica for his contribution to the field of Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals.

• 2019 – Recipient of the Government of India’s prestigious Presidential Honor, Indian Diaspora Award – Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, from the President of India. His Excellency Hon. Shri Ramnath Kovind.  

• 2019 – Award for New Investment, Business Development and Expansion from the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Jamaica.

• 2019 – American Chamber of Commerce Business & Civic Leadership Award.
• 2018 – Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility by the American Chamber of Commerce in Jamaica.
• 2012 – Listed among the top four in the list of young entrepreneurs in “The Entrepreneurial Challenge Contest 2012” hosted by Scotia Bank and  nationwide.
• 2011 – National Quality Award for Excellence in Business by the Bureau of Standards, Jamaica.
• 2009 – Nation Builder Award by the NCB Foundation-Jamaica for Innovation in Business
• 2009 – Century International Quality ERA Award in Geneva (Switzerland) by the Business Initiative Directions from Madrid (Spain) in recognition of Total Quality Management
• 2008 – National Quality Award for Excellence in Business received from the Prime Minister of Jamaica/Bureau of Standards and Ministry of Industry  & Commerce, Jamaica
• 2008 – First Good Physician of the Year Award by the Medical Association of Jamaica