Coronavirus vaccine update: Bharat Biotech to manufacture vaccines in Odisha unit

On November 7, India's pharmaceutical Bharat Biotech International Ltd (BBIL) announced that it will manufacture at least 10 types of vaccines in its Odisha unit. At a virtual meeting with state chief secretary, Asit Tripathy on Friday, BBIL Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Krishna Ella said that the pharma company will undertake the projects to develop the improved vaccines against Rotavirus Diarrhoea, Malaria, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, Pandemic Influenza, and drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The Hyderabad-based  firm successfully developed COVAXIN™, India’s first vaccine candidate for COVID-19, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It had earlier announced to scale this vaccine to 1 billion doses, translating to 1 billion individuals vaccinated receiving a single-dose regimen. However, in a recent talk with the Odisha chief secretary A K Tripathy and the state government officials, the BBIL chairman Ella said that it would make a total investment of nearly Rs 300 crore to manufacture the potential vaccines for other diseases that could be threatening for human health. He added that the firm is also looking to expand its unit at Andharua in Bhubaneswar with Odisha government's co-operation to enhance the research and production of the vaccine candidate. 

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'Critical need' for development

Vaccine Innovator, Bharat Biotech has been at the forefront in its research to manufacture COVID-19 cure with the inactivated virus  which is formulated with ViroVax’s adjuvant to produce experimental vaccine candidate. Chairman and Managing Director, Ella had informed that there is "critical need for development and availability of adjuvants that elucidate mechanisms of action inducing greater antibody responses to vaccine antigens, thus resulting in long-term protection against pathogens." Meanwhile, as the firm plans to deploy the best technologies at the Odisha unit, it now aims to deliver at least ten types of vaccines for different diseases. Bharat Biotech previously led innovation and has developed vaccines for H1N1, Rotavirus, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, Chikungunya, Zika and the world’s first conjugated vaccine for Typhoid.

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(Image Credit: Twitter/BharatBiotech)