Bharat Biotech International Limited | Covaxin Vaccine | Wiki.

Bharat Biotech international limited is an Indian Biotechnological company. It’s headquartered in Hyderabad India. The company is known for its world-class R&D and manufacturing capabilities, also engaged in drug development, vaccine, drug discovery, and health care products.

History-

Bharat Biotech was started in 1996 by Dr. Krishna M. Ella and Mrs. Suchitra Ella, who returned from the US to set up a company to manufacture and develop innovative vaccines and biotherapeutics. They have an intelligent team of scientists and led the operation of vaccines in India by them. In 2000, Bharat Biotech became the first Company in the world to file a global patent for the Zika vaccine, also they have 160 plus patents related to biotechnology.

 In 2017, TYPBAR-TCV was 87% efficient on typhoid, it was the world’s 1st vegetarian or non-bovine typhoid vaccine invented with the help of Oxford University.

In the financial year 2019, the company has acquired Chiron Behring from GSK and became the largest producer of rabies shots producers. The Rotavac-5D vaccine was launched by Hon’ble Vice President M. Venkaih Naidu in New Delhi at the end of 2019. Bharat Biotech hits the landmark of 100 million dose supply of Rotavac vaccine.

In 2020, the company started research on the Covid-19 Vaccine, partner with the Indian council of medical research (ICMR), and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).

Products-

Bharat Biotech produces and develops vaccines and biotherapeutics, trusted by physicians around the globe. They own 145 patents and their products are supplied to around 123 countries. Its product portfolio includes Biohib, Comvac 3, Regen-D 150, Biogit, SLVRGEN, Biopolio, Typbar, HNVAC, Rotavac 5B, etc. They developed vaccines for chikungunya, Zika, typhoid, Rabies, Covid-19, and other viral diseases, and delivered 4 million vaccine doses worldwide.

Investment and Partnerships-

Bharat Biotech limited seeks to lead the innovation in biotechnology and invests to expand world-class research capabilities. They researched bioinformatics, molecular epidemiology, molecular biology, clinical research, bacteriology, virology, immunology, formulation, and product development.

All products of Bharat Biotech are manufactured at the Genome valley manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, India. Their production plant meets the standards set by global regulators like NRA, SFDA, UKMCA, KFDA, and WHO.

Bharat Biotech has collaborated with world-class research institutions on a share basis. They have partnerships with leading Indian & global research organizations to improve public health care.

• National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, India.
• All India Institute of medical science (AIIMS) New Delhi, India.
• Jawaharlal Nehru Center of advanced scientific research, Bangalore, India.
• Stanford university school of medicine, US
• Center for vaccine development, University of Maryland, US.
• National Institute of Health (NFH) Washington, US.
• Center for disease control & Prevention (CDC) Atlanta, US.
• Department of science & technology (DST), Govt. of India.
• Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt. of India.
• Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology (IGIB) New Delhi, India.

Covid-19 Vaccine-

In April 2020, Bharat Biotech announced that they have developed vaccines in collaboration with the Indian council of medical research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). India’s first indigenous (Swadeshi) Covid-19 Vaccine was developed by Bharat Biotech Limited.

The Covaxin vaccine was developed using the whole virion inactivated Vero cell-derived platform technology. Its research received the DCGI approval for Phase 1 & 2 human clinical trials in July 2020.

Phase 1- They have selected 375 subjects for the phase 1 study. The vaccine test was conducted on SARs- COV 2 strain and 15% side effects were shown in vaccine recipients.

Phase 2–In phase 2, 380 participants selected from the 12-65 aged group were enrolled. The results have shown that humoral immunity & cell-mediated response were observed, and both groups with no serious adverse event.

The company manufactures the Covid-19 Vaccine at its Genome valley facility in Hyderabad and in the upcoming years, Bharat Biotech is going to establish another facility in Bhubaneswar Odisha in collaboration with Odisha Government.

The Covaxin is effective against UK variant strain, analysis by the National Institute of Virology. Vaccine-induced antibodies can neutralize the UK strain and heterologous strains. Bharat Biotech has been approached by different countries across the world for the procurement of the Covaxin vaccine. The Covaxin supplies from the government of India to Sri Lanka, Oman, Bahrain, Mongolia, Myanmar, Maldives, Philippines, and Mauritius.

EUL was also granted in March and April 2020 to Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Hungary, Brazil UAE.