All eyes are on India that makes 60% of the world’s vaccines !

As international vaccine companies and academic institutions race the clock to deliver a safe Covid-19 vaccine, all eyes are on India that makes 60% of the world’s vaccines. And within India, if there is one destination that all of them are making a beeline for it is Hyderabad. The city has the capacity to churn out well over a third of the global vaccine supply.

Be it India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin or Russia’s Sputnik V, Johnson & Johnson’s Ad26.Cov2.S, FluGen’s CoroFlu or even Sanofi’s under development vaccine candidates, all have a Hyderabad connect.

Whether a successful Covid-19 vaccine is developed in Hyderabad or not, a vaccine developed anywhere in the world will be churned out of Hyderabad, feels Dr Varaprasad Reddy, founder & chairman, Shantha Biotechnics Ltd.

“All Hyderabad vaccine companies are robust in manufacturing technology and have the capacity to manufacture millions of doses with good standards,” says Reddy, who is awaiting Sanofi’s own vaccine candidate in the first half of 2021, a chunk of which is expected to be manufactured in Hyderabad. Sanofi had acquired Shantha Biotechnics in 2009.

Hyderabad will be an integral part of the Covid-19 solution just by the dint of the sheer vaccine manufacturing capacity it houses, feels Mahima Datla, managing director, Biological E Limited, which has a tie-up with Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, to develop its own vaccine candidate and a tech collaboration to manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine here.

In fact, most of Hyderabad’s vaccine manufacturers are in informal discussions for a manufacturing collaboration so that whenever a successful candidate is developed they can offer their manufacturing capabilities.

The Telangana government too is gung-ho about Hyderabad’s role in the Covid-19 battle given. “Being the vaccine capital of the world, we are fully committed to playing an enabling role in global vaccination efforts against Covid-19 and proactively support our companies to quickly ramp up production to serve the world,” said Jayesh Ranjan, principal secretary, industries & ITE&C, Telangana.

Reference: Healthworld.com