Serum Institute to expand presence in Russia through JV

Vaccine maker Serum Institute of India is planning to significantly expand its base in Russia by entering into a joint venture with Russian government-owned vaccine maker National Immunobiological Company (NIC).

"We consider Russia to be one of the largest markets for vaccines with brilliant growth prospects. At present, we are in discussions with NIC through Russia's ministry of health for a joint venture," Adar Poonawala, executive director and chief executive of Serum Institute of India, told Business Standard . He is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's delegation to Russia.

At present, Serum has a negligible presence in Russia, where it sells vaccines worth $2-3 million a year. "We plan to increase our sales to $60-80 million in coming two to three years with this joint venture," Poonawala added. NIC is one of the 13 holding companies of Russia's major public sector entity Rostec.

Modi is in Russia for the 16th India-Russia annual summit. He is accompanied by a team of 18 leaders of Indian industry, who would interact with 34 Russian CEOs on the sidelines of the summit.

Serum Institute, founded by Cyrus Poonawalla, is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (1.3 billion doses).

Its portfolio includes vaccines for polio; diphtheria; tetanus; pertussis; haemophilus influenzae type b or Hib; Bacillus Calmette-Guerin or BCG; Hepatitis-B; measles; mumps; and rubella.

The company's products are sold in 141 countries.