VIATRIS
Ramkumar Rayapureddy , Global Chief Information Officer at Viatris , tells us about successfully managing a large consolidation during a worldwide pandemic
Ram Rayapureddy , Global CIO
The formation of pharmaceutical company Viatris has followed an atypical path . It was created in November 2020 through the combining of pharmaceutical firms Mylan and Upjohn , a Pfizer subsidiary . But when the combination was first announced in July 2019 , no one could have predicted that the world would be fighting a global pandemic less than a year later . The IT team , led by former Mylan CIO and current Viatris CIO Ramkumar Rayapureddy , played not only a key leadership role in the successful integration but also had to help shift an entire company to working remotely on the journey to becoming Viatris .
Integrating companies is never an easy task , and the Viatris transaction is no exception . For starters , this integration involves three companies instead of two – Mylan , Upjohn , and Upjohn ’ s parent company , Pfizer . The companies ’ first order of business was the separation of Upjohn from Pfizer ; following that separation , Upjohn and Mylan could combine to become Viatris . As Day 1 approached , timelines were tight , legalities were instrumental , budgets were analysed , and technologies had to function without a glitch . technologymagazine . com 215