The Hindu Business Line : Panacea Biotec acquires 10 pc stake in UK co

Panacea Biotec Ltd has acquired a 10 per cent in UK-based liquid vaccine developer Cambridge Biostability Ltd (CBL) for around Rs 17 crore (£1.935million) through a joint venture agreement with the company.

It has also entered into a licensing agreement with CBL, to in-licence its proprietary technology to make vaccines of ready-to-inject stable liquid suspensions that do not require refrigeration or reconstitution, thus significantly reducing administration costs and effectiveness.

Board member

In addition, Mr Rajesh Jain, Joint Managing Director of Panacea Biotec, has been appointed to the board of CBL as non-executive director.

Panacea Biotec will manufacture and market stable liquid version of pentavalent and other combination vaccines, for the treatment of whooping cough, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza B.

Stable liquid vaccine

The market for its pentavalent thermostable vaccine, claims the company, is over $135 million and clinical trials of the stable liquid pentavalent vaccine are expected to begin in 2008, with the possible launch in 2010.

"CBL's stable liquid technology removes the need for cold chain, which currently costs around $200 million a year. It also extends the shelf life of vaccines, thereby, saving around $100 million in waste vaccines every year. The launch of a stable liquid pentavalent vaccine will be a significant milestone and growth driver for both partners," said Mr Jain in a company release here.

"As well as being very exciting news for CBL, more importantly, it also brings the reality of having a stable liquid pentavalent vaccine out in the field one step closer - available for use in remote areas, at extreme temperatures and no requirement for the complex cold chain," Mr John Lambert, CBL Chairman, said.

Both companies had an earlier arrangement entered in 2004 for a refrigeration free pentavalent childhood vaccine.