BHUBANESWAR: Sapigen Biologix Private Limited is likely to start commercial production of a host of vaccines from its new plant at Odisha Biotech Park at Andharua here, by the end of May.
On Sunday, chairman of 5T initiatives and Nabin Odisha VK Pandian visited the plant, which is in its final phase of commissioning. He interacted with the management and its employees. Pandian instructed all government agencies to assist in the commissioning of the plant.
The Hyderabad-based company, a subsidiary of Biovet Pvt Ltd, promoted by Dr Krishna Ella of Bharat Biotech Ltd, will be the first vaccine manufacturer to start commercial production from the state.
The state-of-the-art plant, which is coming up with an investment of Rs 1,500 crore, is expected to produce over 15 vaccines for various diseases, including cholera and malaria. It will have a capacity to produce 2.4 crore doses of different vaccines per day. In its full capacity, the facility will be the biggest vaccine producing plant in the country.
In 2022, Sapigen had entered into a partnership with the Technology Development Board of the Ministry of Science and Technology to develop and commercialise vaccines, including RTS, S malaria vaccine. The RTS, S recombinant protein-based malaria vaccine was first recommended by WHO to prevent malaria in children in October 2021. The company aims to produce around 15 million doses per annum of RTS, S malaria vaccine by the end of April 2025.
Construction of the vaccine manufacturing plant is going on in full-swing at Odisha Biotech Park and it is expected to be ready in next three months.
The integrated industrial park has been developed on 30 acre land to attract and promote biotechnology and bio-information technology industries in Odisha with allied facilities.
“The vaccine plant will create 1,500 direct employment, and most of them are being hired locally from Odisha. The variety of vaccines produced in Bhubaneswar will be supplied to many parts of the world and will take Odisha to new heights in the field of biotechnology,” the CMO said in a statement.
Pandian expressed confidence that with this large anchor manufacturing plant, many other complementary biotechnology-related product companies will get attracted to the Odisha Biotech Park, bringing major investments and creating jobs in this speciality field.