Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited has launched the country's first new generation typhoid vaccine 'TPYBAR' here in Bangalore mainly because Karnataka had a high incidence of the ciprofloxacin-resistant strains of Salmonella typhi.
Prior to the formal launch of the vaccine TPYBAR by the Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna here this evening, Dr. Krishna M Ella, chairman and managing director, Bharat Biotech said here at a press meet, “We are now the largest primary manufacturer of typhoid vaccine as the other existing products are imported in India by the companies. The two dose whole cell-killed typhoid vaccines that were produced by the government labs are now being phased out due to the high reactogenecity and low efficacy. Our novel vaccine is an excellent replacement as it is safer, purer and more efficacious to eliminate the scourge of typhoid fever.”
The vaccine strain of Salmonella typhi Ty2 was made available by Dr. John Robbins, the father of polysaccharide vaccines, now at the National Institute of Health, USA.
The company has planned an annual production of 50 million doses of the vaccine. The single dose vaccine priced at Rs. 175 is expected to be sold at Rs. 100 going by the estimated 6 million typhoid cases that occur ever year.
Some of the developing countries including China are engaged in the eradication of typhoid disease with the introduction of massive effective national immunisation programmes. We are also striving to launch a national level immunisation programme to prevent the continued occurrence of typhoid by adopting the new generation vaccine, which stands to benefit as a single dose primary immunisation higher seroprotection percentage and safety, informed P Sudhakara Naidu, vice president, marketing Bharat Biotech.
While the total market value of typhoid vaccine is Rs. 27 crore, Bharat Biotech hopes to registered sales to the tune of Rs. 10-15 crore in the first year of the launch.
The company worked on the TPYBAR' for over two years and cost of development amounted to Rs. 17 crore which was part of its expansion investments of Rs. 125 crore, informed Dr. Ella.
The vaccine was tested at Kolkata and Mangalore before the results were analysed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) which complied the data and published the trail results that were tabulated by Dr. Ramesh Kumar and Dr. MK Bhan, representative from the World Health Organisation. The initial research went on at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, said Naidu.
The 7-year old company is the largest biotech facility in the Asia Pacific region and the second largest in the world. Its Hepatitis vaccine Revac B produces one million doses per annum and is the largest in the world. It is the first Indian company to obtain global patent for a biotech molecule Lysostaphin against Staphylococcal infection. The company is also manufacturing Haemophillus influenzae-B Hib titer vaccine for Wyeth Lederle, USA and it is for the first time a multi national US-based company has gone in for contract manufacturing for its vaccine outside USA. In the next three to four months, the company will launch the single dose affordable rabies vaccine and the Japanese Encephiltus vaccine. It also working towards the introduction of another 8 more vaccines as its plan of action, informed Dr. Ella.