Aurobindo Pharma, India’s second-largest drug maker, said it is looking at possible tie-ups with companies to do contract manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines. This will be in addition to the company’s own efforts to develop a vaccine.
The company said it is investing Rs 250-Rs 275 crore on a new facility to manufacture vaccines that would be ready by April. Aurobindo’s upcoming vaccine facility will have the capacity to manufacture 400 - 450 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
Aurobindo said it is capable of doing both fill and finish, and also manufacture bulk vaccines, depending on the need of the customer.
“We are exploring collaboration with potential partners which are getting ready with their products,” said N Govindarajan, Managing Director of Aurobindo Pharma, in an earnings call on Thursday.
Govindarajan said that in addition to manufacturing, they would undertake distribution.
Aurobindo said that it has the capabilities to manufacture most virus vector platforms, including mRNA and DNA technologies. mRNA stands for Messenger RNA.
Aurobindo has announced its own COVID-19 vaccine development programme through its US subsidiary Auro Vaccines. That vaccine, which uses recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (RVSV) vector platform, is being developed by Profectus BioSciences, which was acquired by Aurobindo Pharma in November last year. This vaccine is still in the pre-clinical phase.
Aurobindo has also partnered with three CSIR labs – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, Institute of Medical Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh, and the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata, to vaccine-making candidates using three different technology platforms. Aurobindo will undertake the clinical development and commercialisation of these vaccines.
Aurobindo’s vaccine ambitions
Aurobindo, which is a pure play pharma company, entered into vaccines by acquiring a controlling stake in Hyderabad-based startup Tergene Biotech, which is developing anti- pneumonia vaccines.
Aurobindo's pneumococcal conjugate vaccines are expected to be filed in India in FY22. The company expects revenue-generation to begin from FY23.
Vaccines of Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila have reached the late-stage trial. Serum, which is doing clinical trials for AstraZeneca’s vaccines, said that it had completed dosing of participants in phase-3.
Bharat Biotech’s and Zydus Cadila’s vaccines have reached the phase-3 stage. Another vaccine maker Biological E entered into a collaboration to manufacture and distribute Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine.
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