Bharat Biotech to scale up Covaxin production to 70 Cr doses a year

At a time when the country is battling second wave of COVID-19, which is spreading like wild fire, Bharat Biotech (Covaxin) has announced that it is prepared to ramp up its vaccine manufacturing capacity from 12 crore a year at present to about 70 crore.

The Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer decided to expand production after a Rs 65 crore grant from the Centre last week.

Bharat Biotech has tied up with Indian Immunologicals (IIL) to manufacture the drug substance for Covaxin. IIL is capable of manufacturing inactivated viral vaccines at commercial scale that too under biosafety containment. The capacity built up will happen at multiple facilities in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

“The current production capacity of indigenously developed Covaxin vaccine will be doubled by May-June 2021 and then increased nearly 6-7 fold by July-August,” Ministry of Science and Technology said recently.

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Bharat Biotech said in a press statement: “The company is able to expand COVAXIN manufacturing capacity in a short timeline, mainly due to the availability of new specially designed BSL- 3 facilities, first of its kind for manufacturing in India that have been repurposed and preexisting expertise and know how to manufacture, test and release highly purified inactivated viral vaccines.”

The company further said it is exploring manufacturing partnerships in other countries, who have prior expertise with commercial scale manufacture of inactivated viral vaccines under biosafety containment.

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Bharat Biotech uses a proprietary adjuvant Algel-IMDG, which is proven for safety and effectiveness, especially to stimulate memory T cell responses. The synthesis and manufacture of the IMDG component has been successfully indigenized and will be manufactured at commercial scale within the country. This is the first instance where a novel adjuvant has been commercialised in India.

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has received Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) in several countries so far and about 60 more applications are in process. The international price of the vaccine is pegged at $15 to $20 per dose.