Hyderabad-based Biolegical E opens new Rs 300-crore vaccine facility

Biological E received the authorisation from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for Typhoid conjugate vaccine

Hyderabad-based vaccine company Biological E Limited (BE) has opened a new Rs 300-crore plant for increasing the production of its existing portfolio of vaccines and manufacture new products which are in pipeline. The plant would employ around 1,000 people, according to the company. The company also unveiled its new Typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) on Monday.

Recently, BE received the authorisation from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSO) for the TCV, which was developed in partnership with GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health.

"We are happy that our joint efforts have successfully produced a promising Typhoid vaccine. This is a remarkable milestone in our collaborative journey with the GSK Vaccines Institute for Global Health to save the maximum number of people, particularly children, around the world from Typhoid, which is a deadly, yet vaccine preventable disease," BE managing director Mahima Datla said. The vaccine will be manufactured in BE's GMP manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad and could be commercially available within 3 months, according to Datla.

The company is expecting WHO prequalification for the typhoid vaccine in the current year. State IT and Industry minister K T Rama Rao, who ineaugurated the facility, said the government was committed to making the state number one in in terms of industrial growth and employment generation with a special focus on life sciences.