Biological E to invest 1800 cr in Hyderabad for vaccine production

HYDERABAD: In a major decision that will cement cement Hyderabad's position as "Vaccine Capital of the World", Biological E has announced its expansion plans for investment of more than Rs 1,800 crores. The global pharma major hopes that this initiative would boost employment resulting in more than 2,500 jobs in their three facilities in Genome Valley here. Significantly, the expansion is primarily targeted to ramp up the production of vaccines along with generic Injectables and R&D.

The announcement came after a meeting of Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao's with Biological E Managing Director Mahima Datla. Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, Telangana Industries and Commerce Department, and Shakthi M Nagappan, Director, Lifesciences, of Telangana government were also present at the meeting.

Hyderabad, which is regarded as the "vaccine capital of the world", accounts for one-third of the global vaccine production with a capacity of about nine billion doses per annum. The new investment from Biological E will enhance this capacity by five billion doses, taking the cumulative capacity to about 14 billion doses each year. This will only further consolidate the leadership of Hyderabad in vaccines.

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 INR 1,801 crores 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. The presence includes 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. The pharma major has secured funding from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to the tune of $50 million to expand its 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 for children in the age group of 5-12-years.

Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao said that he was 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," he said.

Mahima Datla, Managing Director of Biological E, has thanked the Telangana government for its support. "The vision of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Minister KT Rama Rao spearheads and continues to facilitate in a way that enables us to take quick decisions to expand even during the pandemic times," she said.