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While guns and terrorists from across the border in Kashmir take the lives of many innocents and soldiers, an Indian-made vaccine is playing a critical role in saving the lives of children in Pakistan.
The vaccine for typhoid, made in Hyderabad, is saving children coincidentally in an eponymously named city in the Sindh provinceof Pakistan.
Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL), the vaccine maker, will supply 200,000 doses of its conjugate typhoid vaccine, Typbar, to Pakistan through the WHO. The supplies will happen in the near future said Krishna Ella, Managing Director. The company has already donated 50,000 doses of the vaccine to Pakistan. Speaking on the occasion of the completion of 20 years of establishing BBIL, Krishna Ella said nearly ₹150 crore was spent to develop the vaccine over a period of 12 years and it has emerged among the top-10 vaccine brands in the country.
The indigenously developed Typbar TCV or Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine has got the WHO recommendation for use on infants between six and 23 months and for children between two and 15 years.
Global access
This enables the procurement and supply of the vaccine to UNICEF, the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) and GAVI-supported countries. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) approved funding of $85 million for 2019-2020 to support the administration of the typhoid conjugate vaccine in developing countries, he said.
Around 12 million cases of typhoid were reported in 2016 with 1.3 lakh deaths globally, according to the International Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates.
Beginning with a licence to mark hepatitis B in 1998, BBIL has emerged a leading vaccine maker. Its Revac (for hepatitis B) was launched by former President APJ Kalam in 2000. The big success story is the development of the Rotovirus vaccine. With major support from the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation, BBIL brought the vaccine to the global access. With WHO pre-qualification, it’s gearing up to supply to 100 countries from April, Krishna Ella told BusinessLine . Work on this vaccine had also started 20 years ago.
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