Hetero Group's Journey Towards Modernizing Pharma Traceability Operations with AltiusHub

Hetero Group is one of India's leading privately held pharmaceutical companies, operating across 145+ countries with 36 state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities approved by major global regulatory authorities. The group revenues are estimated between USD 2–3 billion.

As one of the world's largest producers of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs used in HIV/AIDS treatment, Hetero operates across global pharmaceutical markets where increasingly complex supply chain scenarios and diverse regulatory expectations demand systems capable of supporting uninterrupted data exchange and operational visibility.

Reflecting on these realities, Hetero Group’s Director, Mr. Bhaskar Reddy shared:

"If we can't upload the supply chain traceability data on time, we can't dispatch the shipments."

Over time, operational incidents and evolving business requirements prompted an important question within Hetero leadership — whether traditional traceability systems were sufficient for the speed, scale and continuity modern pharmaceutical operations demand.

This encouraged the team to explore more modern approaches.

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The Beginning of a Modernization Journey

Back in 2023, AltiusHub began conversations with Hetero.

These discussions extended beyond software capabilities alone. For an enterprise operating at Hetero's scale, the evaluation framework extended across technical reliability, multi-market compliance readiness, deployment agility, ecosystem integrations, long-term scalability and the confidence of working with a responsive partner.

Reflecting on the journey, Mr. Bhaskar Reddy addressed a question often asked - What made Hetero place its trust in a relatively young company like AltiusHub?

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Building the Foundation for Scale

The partnership first took shape at Hetero Unit 5 – Jadcherla, Hetero's largest formulations unit and one of its state-of-the-art facilities. As the journey evolved, it expanded into Hetero Unit 3 – Jeedimetla, reflecting growing confidence and a broader supply chain traceability modernization effort across Hetero's ecosystem.

These projects involved extensive integration with Level 3 line management systems by ACG, URL Aspetic, Jekson Vision and Radinik, supporting qualification and deployment across 80+ packaging lines, with further expansion actively underway.

The operating scope extended across diverse regulatory and supply chain requirements including US DSCSA, EU FMD, Russia Chestny ZNAK, China , UAE Tatmeen, Bahrain NHRA-MVC, Saudi Drug Track & Trace System (RSD), Indonesia Track & Trace, Uzbekistan ASL BELGISI and Kazakhstan IS MPT, alongside USAID TIOP and broader Rest of the World markets.

Meeting these expectations required accommodating multiple supply chain scenarios, Computer System Validation (CSV), structured training and onboarding across teams, and focused hypercare support through and beyond go-live.

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Highlights from the Journey

One milestone stood out.

The deployment at Hetero Unit 3 was completed within approximately 60 days — significantly faster than timelines typically associated with comparable enterprise traceability implementations.

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Along this journey, AltiusHub also undertook a pilot traceability initiative in early 2024 under the Traceability Interoperability Platform (TIOP), developed as part of the USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program (GHSC-PSM) supporting the delivery of HIV and malaria medicines across nearly 90 countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

With Hetero serving as one of the programme's significant ARV suppliers, the project involved enabling traceability and visibility for medicines supplied under the program, further reinforcing confidence in AltiusHub's execution capabilities across complex global health supply chains.

Together, these milestones reflected close collaboration between Hetero and AltiusHub teams, where focused execution and shared commitment accelerated implementation without compromising operational or compliance expectations.

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Thinking Beyond Traditional Traceability Outcomes

For Hetero, compliance alone is no longer the only measure of success.

The journey with AltiusHub encouraged a broader view of what modern traceability systems should deliver. Beyond regulatory reporting, the focus increasingly shifted toward faster issue resolution, reduced reliance on consultant-led support, simplified partner onboarding and platforms designed to scale alongside evolving business requirements.

AltiusHub's modern technology architecture further enabled faster market readiness, lower long-term operating overhead and quicker adoption of emerging capabilities including AI and automations — areas where legacy track and trace systems often face limitations due to higher total cost of ownership (TCO) and slower adaptability to innovation.

The Journey Ahead

What began with deployments at Unit 5 and Unit 3 evolved into broader collaboration across Hetero Group entities, including Annora Pharma, Camber and Aspiro, reflecting confidence earned through execution, responsiveness and long-term partnership.

As global supply chains and regulatory expectations continue to evolve, the focus now extends toward supporting additional packaging lines, newer export markets and emerging compliance frameworks, including regions such as Egypt and Ethiopia, alongside continued readiness for future operational and traceability requirements.

For Hetero and AltiusHub, the journey continues to be shaped by a shared understanding that scalable traceability systems are no longer merely compliance systems, but foundational infrastructure supporting modern pharmaceutical supply chains.