Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw honoured with Australia’s highest civilian honour

Biocon Chairperson and Managing Director Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has been awarded the ‘Order of Australia’, Australia’s highest civilian honour, for her significant service to advancing Australia’s bilateral relationship with India, particularly in promoting commercial and educational links.

Dr Mazumdar-Shaw was appointed an Honorary Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia by Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Her Excellency Harinder Sidhu, at a ceremony in Bengaluru recently. The ceremony was attended by representatives from Indian and Australian business and diplomatic corps, amidst family and friends of Dr Mazumdar-Shaw.

Honorary appointments in the Order of Australia are made to foreign nationals who have made an outstanding contribution to Australia or humanity at large. Dr Mazumdar-Shaw is the fourth Indian citizen to be awarded Australia’s highest civilian honour.

“It is an absolute privilege for me to be conferred the ‘Order of Australia’. I am deeply grateful to the Australian Government for this great honour. I do hope that technology will be the great economic connector in the future as we together build a sustainable world where bush fires and floods, diseases and pollution are no longer life threatening; but challenges that we learn to manage and mitigate through responsible behaviour and innovative technologies.” Dr Mazumdar-Shaw said.

Her honour follows the conferment of batsman Sachin Tendulkar in 2012, former Attorney General of India, Soli Jehangir Sorabjee in 2006 and Mother Teresa of Kolkata in 1982.

Congratulating Dr Mazumdar-Shaw, Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Her Excellency Harinder Sidhu, said: “The Australian Government has chosen to bestow this honour on Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for her immense contribution in advancing Australia’s bilateral relationship with India. She is a tireless champion of Australia-India commercial, educational, government and people-to-people links. She is a pioneer, an inventor, a bio pharmacist-par-excellence, a philanthropist and an international role model for women in STEM. On the basis of her longstanding commitment and support in advancing Australia-India relations, Dr Mazumdar-Shaw is worthy of recognition with an appointment as an honorary Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia.”

This apart, Biocon has said that pre-approval inspection of the Bengaluru facility of its arm conducted by the US health regulator was concluded with zero observations. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) conducted a pre-approval inspection of the oral solid dosage manufacturing facility of Biocon Pharma, a subsidiary of Biocon, which was triggered by the submission of an abbreviated new drug application, the company said in a regulatory filing.

“The inspection of the Bengaluru facility, which took place between January 13 and January 17, 2020, concluded with zero observations and no Form 483 was issued,” the pharma company told stock exchanges. “We remain committed to global standards of quality and compliance,” the company spokesperson said.