Hyderabad-based IIL to develop India’s first vaccine for fish

Hyderabad-based Indian Immunologicals Limited announced a strategic partnership with CIFE, Mumbai, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research Institute

Hyderabad: In a pioneering effort, Hyderabad-based Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) is collaborating with national research organisations to produce the country’s first vaccine against bacterial diseases among freshwater fishes.

To develop such vaccines that can be scalable at a commercial level, the leading vaccine manufacturer from Hyderabad on Monday announced a strategic partnership with the Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Institute.

Currently, there is no commercial fish vaccine available in India that can prevent major aquaculture infections. As a result, aquaculture in the country has been suffering economic losses due to infections caused by several bacterial, viral, fungal and other aetiological agents.

As part of the collaboration, CIFE will provide technology for two inactivated bacterial vaccines — one for Columnaris Disease, a serious condition affecting numerous freshwater fish species, and the other for Edwardsiellosis that causes a high degree of mortality leading to severe economic losses. Both diseases are extremely common in freshwater fishes and are considered to be ubiquitous, IIL and CIFE officials said.

Due to the lack of vaccines, such infections are managed by anti-infectives and other conventional measures with varying degrees of success. “We are the first in India to get into fish vaccines and are committed to launching more and more products for the aquaculture market and help shrimp and fish growers to increase their productivity and protect fish schools from various diseases,” IIL managing director Dr K Anand Kumar said.

IIL’s deputy MD Dr Priyabrata Pattnaik said the company is planning to introduce vaccines and immune stimulants with tech transfer from various fisheries institutes under ICAR. Several fish vaccine candidates are currently being evaluated by IIL for commercialisation. “The launch of such vaccines will have a positive impact on reducing indiscriminate use of chemical- or antibiotic-based treatment methods. This in turn will help reduce antimicrobial resistance,” he said.

Director and Vice-Chancellor of ICAR-CIFE Dr CN Ravishankar said the collaboration between CIFE and IIL is vital for the development of India’s first bacterial fish vaccine.