Biological E to invest Rs 300 crore on new vaccines plant

The new plant will come up at a special economic zone

Hyderabad-based vaccine maker Biological E (BE) today said it would be investing up to Rs 300 crore in a new plant coming up in the special economic zone (SEZ) here. 

This investment is in line with and part of Rs 1,000 crore outlay already earmarked in Hyderabad Genome Valley across BE's vaccines and pharma businesses, according to the company's managing director Mahima Datla.

The construction of the new vaccine manufacturing facility, for which the foundation stone was laid on Monday, on about 29 acres of land would be completed by April 2018 and the commercial production is expected to begin by December 2019, according to the company.

Founded in 1953, Biological E Limited is claimed to be India's first biological products company in the private sector. BE supplies several vaccines and pharmaceuticals to United Nations (UN) agencies and several global markets and in India to various immunisation programme. BE's portfolio of WHO pre-qualified vaccines include the 5-in-one Pentavalent and Japanese Encephalitis vaccine.

Data said the new plant would help the existing vaccines manufacturing facility augment the production and manufacture new products that are in the pipeline.