Bharat Biotech International has entered into a strategic alliance with Pennsylvania-based Novavax, Inc. to pursue rapid development of pandemic influenza vaccine for India and other ASEAN markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bharat Biotech will fund all pre-clinical and clinical development, work with Novavax on optimal manufacturing processes and be responsible for the commercialization of the vaccine. Novavax will receive unrestricted access to all pre-clinical and clinical data and a royalty on all sales, stated a company release.

The alliance will be overseen by a steering committee chaired by Dr Richard Klausner, an eminent scientist and former executive director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and former director of the US National Cancer Institute.

Dr Krishna M Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, said, "This partnership would help India develop a highly efficacious vaccine against pandemic flu and stand at the forefront in developing a prophylaxis against this much dreaded pandemic."

Dr Rahul Singhvi, president and CEO, Novavax, said, "Bharat Biotech has chosen Novavax Virus Like Particles (LVP) and Novasome technologies to develop, produce and distribute a vaccine against H5N1 and other strains of avian influenza for the Indian population. Bharat Biotech has established itself as a leader in adopting innovative vaccine technologies as evidenced by their collaborations with Wyeth and Acambis. We believe that by leveraging the clinical, process and manufacturing capabilities of Bharat, we will expedite the development and regulatory approval of our VLP-based avian flu vaccines around the world."

Novavax's VLP technology uses recombinant protein technology to imitate the structure of a virus to provide protection without the risk of infection or disease. Novavax's proprietary VLP technology produces safe and effective vaccine products through an aseptic process that reduces contamination risk and produces high, cost-effective yields.

The World Bank has termed bird flu as a 'large shadow' that could harm growth in some parts of the world. The potential cost burden on Asia due to flu pandemic, according to Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be between $ 100 billion and $ 280 billion.