Hilleman Laboratories has announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Bharat Biotech International Ltd. (BBIL)in India for further development, manufacturing and commercialization of its next-generation Oral Cholera Vaccine, Hillchol.

This collaboration is expected to strengthen the ability of both organizations towards prevention of Cholera through rapid and cost-effective deployment of vaccine doses in low and middle-income countries.

Hillchol was designed at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and subsequently developed by Hilleman Labs including demonstration of safety and immunogenicity in an age de-escalating Phase I/II clinical trial conducted in Bangladesh with the assistance of icddr,b and Incepta Vaccines Ltd.

For further development of Hillchol, Hilleman Labs has entered into a licensing and manufacturing agreement with BBIL, who will scale the manufacturing process to commercial stage and establish product specifications required for WHO pre-qualification.

Prof. Jan Holmgren, University of Gothenburg who along with his colleague Dr. Michael Lebens and their team invented the vaccine commented, “Hillchol contains a single recombinant Hikojima strain which expresses both Inaba and Ogawa antigens, resulting in a shorter and simpler manufacturing process as compared to licensed OCVs. Hillcholwill therefore be of great importance and value to help to meet the urgent demands from Cholera afflicted countries for much expanded oral Cholera vaccines manufacturing and supplies for the control of Cholera globally.”

 

The collaboration between the companies seeks to acceleratethe development, licensure, manufacture and supply of an affordable, next-generation Cholera vaccine.