Biological E to invest Rs 1,800 crore in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Cementing Hyderabad’s position as Vaccine Capital of the World, Biological E (BE) has announced its expansion plans with an investment of more than Rs 1,800 crore. This will lead to a creation of employment to more than 2,500 people in its three facilities in Genome Valley. The expansion is primarily targeted to ramp up […]

Hyderabad: Cementing Hyderabad’s position as Vaccine Capital of the World, Biological E (BE) has announced its expansion plans with an investment of more than Rs 1,800 crore. This will lead to a creation of employment to more than 2,500 people in its three facilities in Genome Valley.

The expansion is primarily targeted to ramp up the manufacturing of vaccines along with generic injectables and research and development.

---

The announcement was made by Industries and IT Minister KT Rama Rao after his meeting with Biological E Managing Director Mahima Datla. Industries Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Telangana Lifesciences Director Shakthi M Nagappan were also present.

“I’m delighted to announce the expansion plans of Biological E in Genome Valley. Hyderabad is already known as the Vaccine Capital of the World and this expansion further accelerates our strength to serve the world with live saving vaccines,” said Rama Rao.

“I am thankful to the Government of Telangana, the vision of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao for spearheading and continuing to facilitate in a way that enables us to take quick decisions to expand even during the pandemic times,” said Datla.

Hyderabad is regarded as the vaccine capital of the world. It accounts for one-third of global vaccine production now with a capacity of about nine billion doses per annum. This new investment from Biological E will enhance the capacity by five billion doses, increasing the cumulative capacity to about 14 billion doses each year. This will further consolidate the leadership of Hyderabad in vaccines.

BE’s new investment will focus on manufacturing of Janssen Covid vaccine, Measles-Rubella vaccine , Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine, Typhoid vaccine, Tetanus Toxide ampoules, Inactivated Polio Vaccine and Pertussis Vaccine Biological active pharmaceutical ingredients and formulations will also be key areas for the company.

All of these activities will be located in Genome Valley, which is India’s first organised cluster for Life Sciences research and development and clean manufacturing activities. The cluster has 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 science-based companies with a workforce of about 15,000 professionals. Marquee global names like Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Ferring Pharma, Chemo, DuPont, Ashland, United States Pharmacopeia, Lonza and others operate from here.

BE commenced operations in 1953 as a biological products company manufacturing liver extracts and anticoagulants. It is the first private sector biological products company in India and the first pharmaceutical company in Southern India. Currently, BE has four strategic business units- branded formulations, speciality generic injectables, synthetic biology and vaccines and biologics in Telangana with six manufacturing facilities. It already has created direct employment for more than 5000 people.

BE has secured funding from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to the tune of $50 million (close to Rs 400 crore) to expand the company’s capacity to produce Covid-19 vaccines. Further, it has developed one the indigenous vaccines for Covid-19 – ‘Corbevax’. The vaccine has also received a nod from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use authorisation for the 5-12-year age group.