Panacea Bio Bags Anthrax Vaccine Rights From Jnu

The New Delhi-based Panacea Biotech has bagged the registration, production and marketing rights of the anti-anthrax vaccine developed by the Centre for Biotechnology in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

"The vaccine should be in the market in six to eight months," director (marketing) Rajesh Jain said.

The company has made a milestone payment to JNU for the exclusive rights. In addition, it will pay the university a royalty on sales. However, the company is yet to make any projections on the business the vaccine is expected to generate. "There is a huge opportunity because of the sudden rise in bio-terrorism," Jain said.

 

The vaccine is different from drugs such as ciprofloxacin currently being used in the treatment of anthrax. Ciprofloxacin is administered after a person has contacted anthrax. The vaccine develops immunity in the human body to anthrax bacillus.

According to Jain, the vaccine developed by JNU is superior to the only other anti-anthrax vaccine available in the US. "The vaccine in the US has a lot of toxic side-effects. The side-effect profile of this (JNU) vaccine is negligible," he said.

As anthrax has become a national emergency, Jain said, the government's policy of fast-track registration will come into effect. This, in turn, will lead to a speedy commercialisation of the vaccine, he added.

"All tests on animal toxicity and human studies will be done but much time will not be wasted," Jain said. The vaccine will be produced by Panacea Biotech at its Lalru unit in Punjab.

Panacea Biotech would also be looking at exporting the product, though Jain said the company's priority would be the domestic market. "The plant that we recently put up at Lalru meets the US and European standards. We have an advantage and do not see any problem in getting approval to sell in these markets," Jain said.