Bharat Biotech to produce world's first malaria vaccine

Bharat Biotech will produce a malaria vaccine in association with the leading pharma giant GSK, disclosed Dr Rechas Ella on Twitter

Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International will produce a malaria vaccine and it will be manufactured in association with the leading pharma company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Bharat Biotech International Business Development head
Dr Rechas Ella disclosed it on Twitter.

This is the first malaria vaccine, which would be made available worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the widespread use of the GSK-developed ‘RTS, S’ malaria vaccine in vaccination drives in Sub-Saharan Africa (south of the Sahara desert) as well as in other countries, which record more malaria cases, on a pilot basis.

GSK has decided to launch the vaccine production with Bharat Biotech, which will provide 1.5 crore doses of the vaccine annually by 2028. The technology will be transferred to Bharat Biotech. In January this year, GSK, Bharat Biotech and Path (a global charity engaged in healthcare) entered into an agreement to produce the malaria vaccine.

The agreement was signed after getting approval from the WHO, Bharat Biotech will manufacture the malaria vaccine by taking technological help from GSK. A pilot project on malaria vaccine has been carried out in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.

Nearly, eight lakh children have been administered at least one dose of the vaccine and the results were analysed. Based on the results of the project, the World Health Organisation has recently approved its widespread use. In this context, Bharat Biotech is planning to start vaccine production.