CPL Bio's plant to go on stream in 2 years

CPL Biologicals Private Limited, a new joint venture company between Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited (CPL) and US-based vaccine company Novavax Inc, plans to commission its new ‘Virus Like Particles’ (VLP) plant within the next two years. While the joint venture company has begun its operations from CPL's existing unit, it plans to construct a new plant in near future.

“This joint venture represents an important strategic alliance for vaccine development and manufacturing in India and uses unique and cutting-edge vaccine technology. Our vision is to be a leading provider of high-quality affordable vaccines, biological therapeutics and diagnostics through world-class research and innovative manufacturing to address current and future global health challenges,” said IA Modi, chairman of CPL Biologicals.

 

On the company’s plans of producing the vaccine in India, Modi said, “We plan to commission the new plant that we are setting up for creating vaccines based on VLP using cutting-edge technology. Novavax is a pioneer in VLP technology in the US and we intend to use their expertise through our new joint venture with them and bring this technology to India.”

VLP technology compresses vaccine manufacturing time by 50 per cent as compared to conventional methods and the vaccine mimics the virus without the ability to cause infection.

At an initial investment of Rs 100 crore in CPL Biologicals, CPL and Novavax are aiming to produce and market biologicals in India before the end of the fiscal year 2009-10. According to Rahul Singhvi, president and chief executive officer of Novavax Inc, a special initial focus will be to develop H1N1 influenza vaccine candidate (swine flu vaccine) in India that Novavax is developing in the US. Through the VLP technology, the cost of putting up vaccine production capacity increases by 80 per cent, Singhvi added.