Cadila Pharma working on new generation rabies vaccine

The Gujarat-based company has six vaccines products in pipeline

Ahmedabad-based privately held pharmaceutical company Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, is working on six vaccine products, including one new generation rabies vaccine.

Rajiv I Modi, chairman and managing director of Cadila Pharma informed that, "We have six products in the pipeline in the vaccine segment. Besides working on vaccines for endemic influenza and seasonal influenza, we are also in the process of developing a new generation rabies vaccine." He, however, did not wish to give a timeline for the launch of these vaccines.

CPL biologicals, the joint venture between Cadila Pharma and US-based Novavax had received the regulatory nod to conduct toxicology studies and clinical study of influenza vaccine last year. CPL Biologicals had also completed positive preclinical immunogenicity studies of a rabies G-protein nano-particle vaccine. Novavax, a biopharmaceutical company, works on creating vaccines for infectious diseases using its virus-like particle and recombinant nanoparticle technology.

As for the other vaccines, Cadila is also working with Novavax to develop a novel malaria vaccine with the help of the Indian government. The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and CPL Biologicals  are working together to develop the vaccine. The project is being funded by India's Department of Biotechnology Vaccine Grand Challenge Program and will be managed by the Malaria Vaccine Development Program, a New Delhi-based not-for-profit organisation established to support the development of malaria vaccines.

CPL Biologicals, on its part, would conduct the clinical trials and also commercially manufacture the vaccine.

Meanwhile, after launching the Mycidac-C, an affordable drug priced at Rs  4,000 per injection, Cadila now wants to look for partners to market the drug overseas in the coming years. The drug would be launched in the Indian market in December 2013, and eventually, the company would look at selling it in the SAARC and other European countries.