Vaccine maker Biological E. will be investing ₹1,800 crore on expansion projects at three of its facilities in Genome Valley, Hyderabad.
It is primarily to ramp up manufacturing of vaccines along with generic injectables and research and development (R&D), the office of Industries and IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao said on Thursday.
Booster for Hyderabad
For Hyderabad, which contributes to one-third of global vaccine production and boosts a capacity of about 9 billion doses per annum, the move is bound to further bolster its position as the vaccine capital of the world. The investment from Biological E to enhance capacity by 5 billion doses would thus increase the cumulative manufacturing capacity of Hyderabad to about 14 billion doses, further consolidating the city’s leadership in vaccines, the Minister’s office said.
The announcement followed a meeting Biological E. Managing Director Mahima Datla had with Mr. Rao in the presence of key officials, including Industries Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Director Lifesciences Shakthi M. Nagappan.
The investment will be focused on manufacturing of Janssen Covid vaccine, MR Vaccine, PCV Vaccine, Typhoid Vaccine, Covid Vaccine, Tetanus Toxide Ampoules, IPV Vaccine and Pertussis Vaccine, biological APIs and formulations, speciality generic injectables and R&D projects with a cumulative investment of Rs.1,801 crore and employment potential of 2,518 people.
“I am delighted to announce the expansion plans of Biological E. in Genome Valley. Hyderabad is already known as the vaccine capital of the world and this expansion further accelerates our strength to serve the world with live saving vaccines,” Mr. Rao said.
All of these projects will be located in Genome Valley, which is India’s first organised cluster for Life Sciences R&D and clean manufacturing activities, with world-class infrastructure facilities in the form of Industrial / Knowledge Parks, SEZs, multi-tenanted dry and wet laboratories and incubation facilities. It is home to over 200 firms with a scientific workforce of about 15,000 professionals, including marquee global names like Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Ferring Pharma.
Ms. Datla thanked the Telangana government, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and Mr. Rama Rao for spearheading and continuing to facilitate in a way that enables firms to take quick decisions to expand even during the pandemic times.
Biological E. is behind the indigenous vaccine Corbevax, which forms part of India’s arsenal against COVID-19. The company has also secured $50 million funding from U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to expand its capacity to produce COVID-19 vaccines. Branded formulations; speciality generic injectables; synthetic biology; and vaccines and biologics are the four strategic business units of the company, which in Telangana has six manufacturing facilities and providing direct employment to more than 5,000 people, the release said.
