An Entrepreneurial Family: Chintu and Chirag Patel of Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC Named Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2011 Life Sciences Award Winners

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Nov. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Chintu Patel, CEO, and Chirag Patel, President, of Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC, have been named the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2011 Life Sciences Award winners. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® is the country's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The award encourages entrepreneurial activity and recognizes leaders and visionaries who demonstrate innovation, financial success and personal commitment as they create and build world-class businesses.  

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The Patels were recognized for continuing to find new and innovative ways to improve the manufacturing processes of pharmaceuticals utilizing their people and technology to deliver outstanding quality and service to their customers. They were honored at the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards gala, the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum® held in Palm Springs, California. The Forum is the nation's premier gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies. Awards were given in nine additional categories. The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners were selected by an independent panel of judges from approximately 300 regional award recipients.  

Bryan Pearce, Americas Director, Entrepreneur Of The Year, Ernst & Young LLP, said, "The life sciences industry is inherently risky; speed and accuracy determine a company's success or failure. The Patels have followed a number of critical entrepreneurial strategies to ensure Amneal Pharmaceuticals is a market leader, including making strategic acquisitions and investments in the right areas, delivering their products to market quickly and at a low cost to consumers to attract market share, constant re-investment in their business and in their people and developing a rich product pipeline."

Keeping entrepreneurship in the family

Inspired by their father, brothers Chintu and Chirag Patel are a true testament to entrepreneurship, family and work ethic. Chintu, after earning his pharmacists degree from Rutgers, decided to follow in his father's footsteps and enter into pharmaceuticals manufacturing. In 2005, his big brother, Chirag, with his degree in finance, decided to fully devote his time and energy to the family business. Chirag's extensive experience with commerce and other business ventures proved to be the fuel that ignited the family business.

The business was initially self-funded, with a mere $200,000. It stayed afloat with the help of credit cards and second mortgages until eventually securing capital from an outside investor, a family friend. This new funding enabled the company to obtain several product rights and make strategic acquisitions, leading to the company's explosive growth over the last three years, with revenues exceeding $3 billion.

Serial entrepreneurs

Serial entrepreneurs in the truest sense, Chintu and Chirag have begun to expand their reach in the life science industry. Through affiliations with their independent company, Amneal Enterprises, the brothers have formed several other companies focused on breakthrough technologies in the dermatology and oxygen therapy space.

The next big challenge confronting the Patels is working to manage their extraordinary company expansion. As the company experienced astronomical revenue growth this year, they have integrated more than 1,000 people into the Amneal family, which is a far cry from the brothers' humble beginnings. Amneal was built on strong family values and wants to retain that culture as it develops new employees and continue to grow.

National Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Life Sciences Award finalists

In addition to Chintu and Chirag Patel, the finalists for the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Life Sciences Award were: Ronnie Andrews, CEO of Clarient, Inc., based in Aliso Viejo, California, a health care company that combines innovative diagnostic technologies with world-class pathology expertise to assess and characterize cancer; Gregory Lucier, Chairman and CEO of Life Technologies in Carlsbad, California, which manufactures both molecular diagnostic and research use only products to advance the fields of discovery and translational research, molecular medicine, stem cell-based therapies, food safety and animal health, as well as 21st-century forensics; and Dr. Yiannis Monovoukas, Chairman, President and CEO of TEI Biosciences Inc., of Boston, Massachusetts, experts in regenerative medicine to develop and commercialize novel biologic products for a broad spectrum of soft tissue repair and reinforcement applications, from dura, tendon and hernia repair to wound management and plastic and reconstructive surgery.

National Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Overall Award winners

Reid Hoffman, Chairman, and Jeff Weiner, CEO, of LinkedIn Corporation, were named the Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Overall Award winners.

Video and photos

To view video clips of all of the Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners, please visit http://www.ey.com/US/en/About-us/Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneur-Of-The-Year

Photos of the winners are also available by request.

Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program is pleased to have the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation as a national sponsor.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in 50 countries.

About Ernst & Young LLP's Strategic Growth Markets practice

Ernst & Young LLP's Strategic Growth Markets (SGM) practice guides leading high-growth companies. Our multidisciplinary team of elite professionals provides perspective and advice to help our clients accelerate market leadership. SGM delivers assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services to thousands of companies spanning all industries. Ernst & Young LLP is the undisputed leader in taking companies public, advising key government agencies on the issues impacting high-growth companies and convening the experts who shape the business climate. For more information, please visit us at www.ey.com/us/strategicgrowthmarkets, or follow news on Twitter at @EY_Growth.

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SOURCE Ernst & Young