Zydus, IDRI to collaborate to develop Kala-Azar vaccine

The collaboration will be an all important step to eradicate visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar)

Cadila Healthcare today said Zydus and US-based Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) are collaborating to develop the latter's vaccine candidate for deadly parasitic disease, Kala-Azar.

 

Zydus and IDRI will collaborate to conduct clinical development activities in India with the goal of developing, registering and marketing vaccine candidate for the prevention of Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar), Cadila Healthcare said in a filing to BSE.

 

Conducting the trials in India, where there are real-life situations of disease exposure is critical to determining the effectiveness of IDRI's VL vaccine candidate and ensuring it is approved available within endemic countries, it added.

 

Commenting on the development, Zydus Group Chairman and Manging Director Pankaj R Patel said, "By partnering with IDRI on this very important mission we will be taking an all important step to eradicate visceral leishmaniasis which is a huge healthcare burden."

 

Seattle-based non-profit health organisation IDRL's VL vaccine candidate is a product of more then 20 years research and development supported by US National Institutes of Health and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the statement said.

 

"Zydus expertise and breadth of development and commercialisation experience will be instrumental in getting TDRL's vaccine to the people who need it most," IDRI Founder and President Steven G Reed said.

 

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is transmitted by the bite of an infected sand fly and is considered to be endemic in 88 countries, Cadila Healthcare said.