Next pandemic on animal side and food security, predicts Krishna Ella
Hyderabad: The next pandemic, if it comes, will be on the animal side and food security issues, predicted Krishna Ella, Founder and Chairman of Bharat Biotech, that created the Covaxin. “I predict that, if the next pandemic comes, it will be on the animal side and food security issues. We do not want it to […]
Hyderabad: The next pandemic, if it comes, will be on the animal side and food security issues, predicted Krishna Ella, Founder and Chairman of Bharat Biotech, that created the Covaxin.
“I predict that, if the next pandemic comes, it will be on the animal side and food security issues. We do not want it to happen. But if it happens, food security will be another limiting factor we should look at. As a manufacturer, as a State we are better prepared than anyone else,” he said at a CII event.
“Telangana is prepared to handle any pandemic in the future much better. We are developing a lot of platform technologies. So are other Indian companies. If you look at the biosecurity containment facility, it is a BSL 3 facility. It is the only one in the world and is at Genome Valley at Shamirpet in Telangana. That speaks that we have better facilities than anyone in the world,” the scientist-entrepreneur said.
“Wuhun Lab is only a lab and not a production facility. The first production facility is right in Telangana. I think we are geared up as a country, geared up as a State,” he said.
“Innovations happen with startups. Big companies cannot innovate. Big companies will commercialise but they will not innovate. The same way, the young State of Telangana is more dynamic. It will not carry any legacy issues. The leadership has facilitated the growth of industry and this State has never interfered with the businesses,” Ella said likening the State functioning to that of a startup.
“If I as an entrepreneur do not get help from the Government it is ok. But if it does not interfere, it is a greatest gift to the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs here are not humiliated or tortured by anyone in the State,” he said.
Ella said typhoid conjugate vaccine, the first new molecule from the world, came from Bharat Biotech in Telangana. “It has completed a human challenge in Oxford, and effectiveness studies in seven countries. There is a perception that innovation will not happen in India. Innovations will come from Telangana. Bharat Biotech too was a startup in 1997,” said Ella on how Telangana is encouraging startups.
Chikungunya vaccine is in Phase III trials in Thailand, Columbia, Malaysia, Philippines and India. That will be the first vaccine in the world, again from Telangana. Zika Vaccine is the first global patent in India. We believe that neglected diseases will turn into a pandemic in the future and we have been working on that premise,” he said, asking industry body CII members to focus on value addition to farm products.
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