Vaccine maker Biological E. has been selected to receive mRNA technology from the World Health Organization technology transfer hub.
After examining a number of proposals from India, the WHO's Advisory Committee on Vaccine Product Development has selected Biological E. as a recipient, the Hyderabad–based firm said on Monday.
Primarily set up to address the Covid-19 emergency, WHO’s technology transfer hub has the potential to expand manufacturing capacity for other products as well, including treatments, and target other priorities such as malaria, HIV and cancer. WHO and partners will be working with the Indian government and Biological E to develop a roadmap and put in place training and support for the company to start producing mRNA vaccines as soon as possible, it said.
“We are very pleased with the trust WHO places in our organisation... this is also a reflection of our world–class processes, scale and effectiveness,” BE Managing Director Mahima Datla said.
The company has been investing in mRNA technologies since last year and the partnership with WHO will enhance its ability to develop next generation mRNA vaccines that could be more suitable globally and expand the reach of vaccines availability worldwide, she said.
One of the largest vaccine manufacturers, BE’s Corbevax, a recombinant protein subunit vaccine, is part of the national immunisation programme against Covid-19. It was given emergency use authorisation for children aged 12-18 years and adults up to 80 years.
WHO said the mRNA vaccines use a messenger RNA created in a laboratory to teach the human cells how to produce a protein that in turn initiates an immune response inside the body against a particular disease. The immune response will fight the actual virus as it gets into the body. At present, India has no COVID-19 vaccine made on mRNA platform. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are two COVID-19 vaccines developed on mRNA technology.
