Bharat Bio to develop anti-bird flu vaccine

Close on the heels of Hetero Drugs launching Oseltamivir, an anti-bird flu drug, Nasdaq-listed Novavax Inc and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International today announced a strategic partnership to co-develop an anti-avian flu vaccine based on a recombinant protein technology.

Under the partnership, Bharat Biotech will use the patented Virus Like Particle (VLP) technology platform of Novavax to develop the single dosage pandemic influenza vaccine and undertake clinical trials before manufacturing and marketing the same.

According to Rahul Singhvi, president and CEO of Novavax Inc, his company would offer marketing rights of the vaccine to its Indian counterpart in a few countries, including India, besides providing the technology support. In turn, the American drug development company would take royalty on the sale of vaccine by Bharat Biotech.

Addressing a media conference today, Krishna Yella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, said the proposed development of avian flu vaccine was based on the latest third generation VLP technology, which is already being used in developing Hepatitis B vaccine.

Richard Clausner, special advisor to the Government of India and Novavax Inc and former executive director of the Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation, said VLP enabled production of huge volumes of vaccine without consuming much time. The existing methods use influenza virus unlike VLP technology and require one bird egg to produce a single dose of vaccine. This is a completely private initiative that requires public-private partnership to go forward, he added.

On choosing Bharat Biotech as its partner, Singhvi said the Hyderabad-based company had the capabilities in manufacturing, process development as well as clinical field that matched global standards. "Novavax wants to use these capabilities for the development and manufacture of its product." According to him, vaccine through VLP technology can be developed in just two months and this feature would help develop anti-influenza vaccines to match any number of virus variants. Both the companies proposed to undertake clinical trials for the vaccines by the end of this year, he added.