Bharat Biotech, an Indian biotech company based in Hyderabad, has developed two Zika virus vaccine candidates: an inactivated vaccine and a recombinant vaccine.
If the Indian Government would fast-track the regulatory approvals, the Indian company announced that the inactivated vaccine could be available in two years, once the pre-clinical trials proved to be successful. Testing of the recombinant vaccine might take more time, but pre-clinical testing of the inactivated vaccine could be completed in just five months.
According to Mr. Krishna Ella, including the clinical trials the process for a vaccine to get commercialized can take up to seven years. However, if the Indian Government declares national emergency, the Zika vaccine could move aggressively through regulatory approvals and be made available much faster. Adults of both genders and especially women would be the prime target group for the vaccine.
According to Reuters, Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, declared in a press conference on Wednesday that the company is probably the first in the world to file for global patent for two promising Zika vaccine candidates.
Since its inception to build its portfolio of vaccines, the Indian company had invested over $ 150 million. To date, Bharat Biotech has developed a typhoid conjugate vaccine, a rotavirus vaccine and Typbar TCV. The company has also filed a patent for Chikungunya vaccine.
According to Quartz India, Bharat Biotech Director R & D Sumathy declared that the company started working on Zika vaccine project in November 2014 and filled the patent in July 2015. She added that the potential for a Zika virus epidemic is high and the need for a vaccine is still unmet in India and other countries. Since WHO just announced a global public health emergency, finding a solution to this is requiring a united response.
Zika virus presence is reported in 23 countries. Brazil, the country with the most cases of Zika virus in the world, has reported already around 3,500 cases of a birth defect called microcephaly.
