Biological E to amp up jab production with Rs 1,800-crore investment

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 22 : As India is cementing Hyderabad's position as the "Vaccine Capital of the World", Biological E has announced its expansion plans for vaccine manufacturing with an overall investment of more than Rs 1,800 crore.
This will provide job opportunities to more than 2,500 people in Genome Valley.
The expansion is primarily targeted to ramp up the manufacturing of vaccines along with generic Injectables and R&D.
The announcement was made by Industries and IT Minister KT Rama Rao after his meeting with Biological E Managing Director Mahima Datla.
Industries Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Telangana Lifesciences Director Shakthi M Nagappan were also present.
Rao said that "I am delighted to announce the expansion plans of Biological E in Genome Valley. Hyderabad is already known as the 'Vaccine Capital of the World' and this expansion further accelerates our strength to serve the world with life-saving vaccines."
Managing Director, Biological E, Datla also added, "I am thankful to the government of Telangana, the vision of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Rama Rao for spearheading and continuing to facilitate in a way that enables us to take quick decisions to expand even during the pandemic times."
Hyderabad city accounts for one-third of global vaccine production with a capacity of about 9 bn doses per annum. This investment from Biological E will enhance the capacity by 5 bn doses increasing the cumulative capacity to about 14 bn doses each year.
The investment will be focused on manufacturing of Janssen Covid vaccine, MR Vaccine, PCV Vaccine, Typhoid Vaccine, Covid Vaccine, Tetanus Toxide Ampoules, IPV Vaccine and Pertussis Vaccine, biological APIs and formulations, speciality Generic Injectables and R&D with a cumulative investment of Rs 1,801 crore and employment potential of 2,518 people.
All of these activities will be located in Genome Valley which is India's first organized cluster for Life Sciences R&D and Clean Manufacturing activities, with world-class infrastructure facilities in the form of industrial/knowledge parks, special economic zones (SEZs), multi-tenanted dry and wet laboratories and incubation facilities.
It is home to more than 200 companies with a scientific workforce of about 15,000 professionals including the presence of the marquee global names like Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Ferring Pharma, Chemo, DuPont, Ashland, United States Pharmacopeia, and Lonza amongst many others.
Biological E. Limited (BE) commenced its operations in 1953 as a biological products company manufacturing liver extracts and anti-coagulants.
It is the first private sector biological products company in India and the first pharmaceutical company in Southern India.
Currently, BE has four strategic business units: Branded Formulations, Speciality Generic Injectables, Synthetic Biology and Vaccines and Biologics in Telangana with 6 manufacturing facilities and creating direct employment for more than 5,000 people.
BE has secured funding from U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to the tune of USD 50 million to expand the company's capacity to produce COVID-19 vaccines.
Further, it has developed one of the indigenous vaccines for Covid-19 in the country - "Corbevax".
The vaccine has also received nod from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use authorisation for the 5-12-year age group.