Hyderabad based vaccine major Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) will invest Rs 250 crore to take its range of vaccines like rotavirus, typhoid, malaria Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya and seasonal influenza for clinical trials. It has also slated Rs 75 crore for setting up a new manufacturing facility for the these vaccines that will be undergoing the clinical trials.

According to Dr Krishna M Ella, chairman and managing director, Bharat Biotech's proposed investment of Rs 250 crore would be met through internal accruals and grants from the department of science and technology and international health agencies

The company has also managed to deliver its one billionth vaccine dose which demonstrates its efforts as a global manufacturer of vaccines to protect against rabies, polio, hepatitis-B, typhoid, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, haemophilus influenza B and other diseases. "It has taken us 10 years to reach the one billion mark and the second billion can be reached in less than five years with the advanced processes. We realize that life saving vaccines are still unavailable to millions of people and there is a lot more work to be done. We are committed to research and development of innovative vaccines to address global infectious diseases," he added.

The future growth strategy at Bharat Biotech will be a combination of high volume WHO pre-qualified vaccines and innovative novel vaccines catering to the needs of developing world populations.

Going forward Bharat Biotech intends to further strengthen its clinical research activities through a series of investments into safety and efficacy clinical trials for its innovative vaccines and therapeutics. The company intends to inject 30 per cent of its revenues in R& D and clinical research.

The company commenced operations in October 1996 and its first product Revac-B (Hepatitis-B) Vaccine launched in 1999. It has now one of the largest production capacities as it can deliver 100 million doses of Hepatitis-B, 50 million of Typhoid Vaccine and 8 million doses of Rabies in addition to COMVAC-5.