IIL to set up animal vaccine facility in Hyderabad's Genome Valley

Hyderabad, Oct 10 (IANS) Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL) on Monday announced that it will invest Rs 700 crore to set up a new animal vaccine manufacturing facility in Genome Valley, Hyderabad.

The company said the facility would help meet the vaccine security of the nation against economically important diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and other emerging diseases. The facility will create total employment for around 750 people.

IIL, a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), is already one of the largest manufacturers of FMD vaccine in the world and is the leading supplier of FMD vaccine to the government's National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP).

It is investing in a new greenfield project for the establishment of a Veterinary Vaccine Facility for manufacturing of FMD and other animal vaccines. The facility is intended to be a state-of-art fully integrated biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) for Drug Substance (DS) production and respective fill-finish.

IIL's intended new facility, in Genome Valley Phase 3, will add another 300 million doses/annum of FMD vaccine to its capacity. The existing facility in Gachibowli already has a capacity of 300 million doses. Production is scheduled to commence in the third year.

Dr K. Anand Kumar, MD, IIL, and other members of the Executive Leadership team of IIL including Senior Vice Presidents Mukul Gaur and NSN Bhargav met Telangana's Industry Minister K.T. Rama Rao today and briefed him on the company's plans.

Rama Rao stated that Hyderabad is already regarded as the vaccine capital of the world and this expansion further advances its contribution in terms of global health, not just for humans but also for animals.

"IIL is on an aggressive growth path and this third vaccine facility in Hyderabad will ensure self-sufficiency for our nation in the field of vaccines and thereby saving the exchequer and farmers several thousands of crores," said Anand Kumar.

IIL is a one health company and the market leader in veterinary and human biologicals in India. It manufactures over 150 products.

Genome Valley 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, Special Economic Zones (SEZs), multi-tenanted dry and wet laboratories and incubation facilities.

It is home to more than 200 companies with a scientific workforce of about 15,000 professionals including presence of the marquee global names like Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Ferring Pharma, Chemo, DuPont, Ashland, United States Pharmacopeia, Lonza amongst many others including other vaccines manufacturers like Bharat Biotech, Biological E, etc.