BIRAC has facilitated the establishment of 'the r-VSV vaccine' manufacturing platform for the first time in India by supporting Aurobindo Pharma’s COVID-19 vaccine development, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Aurobindo Pharma said it is developing a vaccine for COVID-19 through its wholly-owned US subsidiary, Auro Vaccines.

The vaccine candidate is based on a proprietary vaccine delivery platform of the company.

"Aurobindo is in the process of setting up a state-of-art manufacturing facility for viral vaccines which will be used to produce the COVID-19 vaccine and other viral vaccines. The plant will comply with global standards. The company’s COVID-19 vaccine development is going as per plan,” the filing added.

Commenting on the collaboration, Aurobindo Pharma Managing Director N Govindarajan said, "It is a matter of immense pride that BIRAC has placed its trust on our vaccine capabilities. The senior leadership of Aurobindo and Auro Vaccines has extensive experience in development, production and commercialization of several vaccines.”

Department of Biotechnology Secretary and BIRAC Chairperson Renu Swarup said the partnership with Aurobindo is to serve the country’s need for a vaccine to fight this pandemic.

"The government is focused on creating an ecosystem that nurtures and encourages new product innovation to address the most relevant issues to our society,” Swarup added.

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Aurobindo Pharma also entered into an agreement. As per the release issued by the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB), under the signed agreement between CSIR- CCMB and Aurobindo Pharma, Aurobindo will partner with CSIR for the development of several novel COVID-19 vaccines.

"Three CSIR labs namely CCMB Hyderabad, Institute of Medical Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh and Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata are developing vaccine candidates using different technology platforms. Aurobindo will undertake clinical development and commercialization of the vaccines," it said.

Commenting on this partnership, Dr Shekhar C Mande, Director General, CSIR, said that "Joining of hands of premier CSIR labs with industry for the development of vaccines will amplify India's efforts in indigenous vaccine development and also help in preparedness for future pandemics".

Dr. Rakesh Mishra, Director, CSIR-CCMB, while talking about the development strategies for the vaccines said, "Our labs are working on novel proteins for vaccine development that has the potential to address the need for a second-generation vaccine. We are happy to partner with Aurobindo who have proven manufacturing and commercialization capabilities."

Aurobindo Pharma Limited also expresses pride over the collaboration with CSIR for developing vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and said that is already setting up a large-scale facility in Hyderabad for manufacturing the vaccine.

"We are proud to join hands with CSIR for developing vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This collaboration further strengthens our COVID-19 vaccine development efforts. We are already setting up a large-scale facility in Hyderabad for manufacturing COVID-19 vaccine and other viral vaccines," said N. Govindarajan, Managing Director, Aurobindo Pharma Limited.

The release said that apart from this collaboration, Aurobindo is already developing a vaccine for COVID-19 (SARS COV-2) through its wholly-owned US subsidiary Auro Vaccines.

 

Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E are among the pharma firms in India working on the coronavirus vaccine.

Source: MoneyControl and NDTV

ABLE Member and Hyderabad-headquartered pharma major Aurobindo Pharma  announced collaboration with the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), set up by the Department of Biotechnology for the development of COVID-19 vaccine.