Bharat Biotech Invests ₹1,500 Cr to Build manufacturing plant in Odisha

Vaccine producer Bharat Biotech allocated Rs 1,500 crore to establish one of the largest vaccine manufacturing plants globally at the Odisha Biotech Park in Bhubaneswar. Bharat Biotech announced on Saturday that the facility, established through its subsidiary Sapigen Biologix, can produce eight billion vaccine doses each year and is designed to manufacture 10 distinct vaccines.

The recently commissioned plant, which has not yet been officially inaugurated, will generate more than 2,000 direct jobs as well as 1,500 indirect positions. Dr. Raches Ella, Managing Director of Sapigen Biologix, stated that initially, the current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) facility will produce three vaccines: Hillchol (BBV131), the second oral cholera vaccine globally, the first licensed malaria vaccine RTS,S, and the oral polio vaccine.

"In the future, the facility will also produce vaccines for Chikungunya and Zika," Dr Raches Ella said, adding that the timing of the Hillchol rollout from the facility was crucial given the global shortage of oral cholera vaccines (OCVs) following the recent deaths in Angola due to pandemic cholera.

On the other hand, the malaria vaccine, developed in partnership with pharma giant GSK as part of a technology transfer agreement, will primarily be distributed to low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia with an eye on reducing the burden of Plasmodium falciparum malaria.