Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world's largest vaccine producer, is in talks with the US based Aeros Global TB Vaccine Foundation to develop and commercialise the world's first recombinant BCG vaccine.
The US $ 100 million odd Aeros Foundation was in talks with some of the Indian vaccine manufacturers to develop the vaccine. The foundation zeroed in on Serum to develop the product and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) detailing the modalities of drug development is likely to be signed within two to three months.
Aeros has secured IPR for the construct for the vaccine and would provide it to the partner. "It will take six to seven years for the vaccine to reach the commercialisation stage. It is early to reveal more about this and we are yet to discuss the details on development" said Dr S V Kapre, executive director, Serum Institute of India.
He said Serum is working on developing a few new generation vaccines, including a Haemophilus Influenzae (Hib) Vaccine, with support from the John Hopkins Institute and ICMR. Path and Gates Foundation are supporting Serum in the development of a Pneumococcal vaccine. The agencies would part fund the development programme in accessing technologies and in facilitating validation of the vaccine. Development of a meningococcal vaccine and rotavirus vaccine are also on the cards, said Dr Kapre and R S Savant, director, Serum Institute.
He said Serum and the London based Lipoxen Technologies are co-developing generic oncology cancer drugs, with a new NDDS having longevity and less toxicity to increase the Quality of Life (QoL) of cancer patients. Serum has invested about Rs.80-100 crore on the new facility at the Serum Pharma Bio Park at Serum's campus in Pune. "Once the platform is ready, we would be able to launch a few products within four to five years" hoped Dr Kapre.
He said Serum, which recently introduced 'Q-Vac', for Diphtheria, Tetanus, pertussis (DTP) and Hepatitis B is also planning to launch a pentavalent vaccine in the market. Aerosol measles vaccine is another project pursued by Serum, with the help of Aktiv-Dry technology, which is used for dry powder processing solutions for the vaccine, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries. The project has funding support from the Gates Foundation.
He said Serum is working on technologies to develop stable vaccines that can survive in room temperature, so that cost on storage conditions could be considerably reduced, helping to reach the vaccines to more remote parts of the world at much reduced prices.