Serum Institute of India will tie up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation {BMGF} for developing anti-AIDS vaccine. Talking to Pharmabiz.com, Adar C. Poonawalla, Trustee, Serum Institute Of India Research Foundation, said, "Talks are going on with BMGF. Very soon we are going to officially announce the details of this new project."

Poonawalla refused to disclose any further details. However, indications are that BMGF will be funding anti-AIDS vaccine research effort initiated by the Serum Institute.

SII has been is in excellent rapport with BMGF. It is already a well-established supplier of vaccines to BMGF. The duo was also involved earlier with Universal Preservation Technologies Inc (UPT) to conduct a feasibility study on UPT's VitriLife vaccine preservation technology to assess the usage of the technology for making thermo stable vaccines.

The Serum also is in touch with other institutions like the WHO, Unicef, Gavi, and BMGF for the supply of its vaccines. It exports its vaccines to more than 138 countries, mostly in the under developed and the developing regions of the world.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the charitable organisation was created in January of 2000, through the merger of the Gates Learning Foundation, which focused on expanding access to technology through public libraries, and the William H. Gates Foundation, which focused on improving global health. Led by Bill Gates' father, William H. Gates, Sr., and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based foundation has an endowment of approximately $24 billion.

Serum Institute is not ambitious at present about exporting vaccines to the developed regions of the world. "Right now our focus will be on the developing and the under developed regions of the world as our units are not up to the standards required to cater to the developed world," said Poonawalla. "We want to go step by step. Initially we will be eyeing for the European GMP certification and then the US," he said.