Indian Immunologicals Develops Thermostable Rabies Vaccine

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Hyderabad: Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board, is all set to introduce ‘thermostable vaccines’ for the first time in the country. The company is planning to launch the first DNA-based rabies vaccine having the potential of thermostability with a no-cool-kit. “On the technology front, we are fully ready with the vaccine and we are awaiting environmental clearance from Genetic Engineering Approval Committee,” said Indian Immunologicals managing director KV Balasubramaniam.

As part of its partnership programme for a period of three years, Indian Immunologicals is working closely with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and department of biotechnology for developing new generation thermostable vaccines, he said.

“The new vaccine will work out cheaper as it is gene processed and does not require a cold chain. The company is waiting the government approval to release the vaccine in the market. This vaccine will be the first indigenously manufactured DNA rabies vaccine in the country,” he said.

The animal toxicity tests have been conducted at the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. “With the veterninary market growing for DNA-based vaccines, we have set a target to market about 10 million doses over a period of time after the launch,” he added. On the need for these kind of vaccines, he said that they are relatively cheaper than the existing cell-cultured vaccines.

Although the cost of the vaccine is lower, the manufacturing overheads are high because of volume-driven business, he said. The cost of human rabies vaccine is about Rs 200. These vaccines do not need refrigeration and can be transported at room temperature, he said.

The company recently set up a human vaccines plant and an R&D centre at a cost of Rs 50 crore in Hyderabad for developing recombinant products using prokaryotic and eukaryotic vectors.

The plant has a capacity to produce 200 million doses. Describing the market potential for vaccines, he said that the current size of the global human vaccines market is about $8 billion and growing about nine per cent annually.