Bharat Biotech developing two vaccines for Zika

The Hyderabad-based biotech company said it started work on the Zika virus a year ago, while developing vaccines for chikungunya and dengue

Bharat Biotech on Wednesday announced that it has two vaccine candidates in development for fighting the Zika virus, against which the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global emergency a few days ago.

Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of the Hyderabad-based firm, has made this surprise announcement stating his company had already applied for patents for both inactivated and recombinant versions of the vaccine, named as ZIKAVAC, in July 2015.

Bharat Biotech had started research work on Zika virus in 2014-end, and work on the inactivated vaccine has reached the stage of pre-clinical testing in animals, Ella said.

“While doing our research on Chikungunya vaccine, which will enter phase 1 trials shortly, we got this idea to work on Zika virus as both belong to a similar group and are also transmitted by the same Aeades mosquito," Ella told reporters.

The revelation comes a day after global vaccine major Sanofi declared that it has launched a research programme to develop vaccine candidates for Zika virus.

"With two vaccine candidates in hand, we will have the first mover advantage over others and our patents are also a part of blocking a similar work by other companies," Ella said.

According to Ella, the company has already informed the Government of India and WHO about its work and was open to collaborations with countries like Brazil, the hardest-hit with around 3,530 reported cases of the devastating birth defect called microcephaly in 2015, that are strongly suspected to be related to Zika, according to him.

However, he was uncertain on when the company could bring the vaccine into the market. "This is entirely in the hands of regulators. We can bring out the vaccine in the next two years if Government of India decides to facilitate its speedy development, which requires by-passing of certain regulatory processes as was done by WHO in case of Ebola virus. Or it may take even 9-10 years," Ella said.

The company claims to hold a portfolio of 50 patents in vaccine development area and has delivered more than three billion doses of vaccines to around 65 countries. In the past, the company has developed a Rotavirus vaccine and also successfully commercialised a Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine Typbar TCV.