Biological E Limited is an Indian

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

and

biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

company based in

Hyderabad, Telangana Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much of Hyderabad is sit ...

. It specialises in the areas of low-cost vaccine production. __TOC__

History

The company was founded by Dr. D.V.K. Raju and Mr. G.A.N. Raju in 1953 as Biological Products Private Limited. It was among the first private sector companies in India to manufacture biological products. It pioneered Heparin production in India. In 1964, Evans Medicals, a U.K. based Pharma Company, which later got merged with Glaxo SmithKline acquired 40% stake in the company, which was subsequently bought back by the promoters in 1995. During the 1960s and 70s, Biological E developed formulations in cough and digestive enzymes, started manufacturing anti-tetanus serum, and launched anti-TB drugs, TT and DTP vaccines. Biological E embarked specialise in low-cost vaccines manufacturing. The company started manufacturing its flagship vaccine product, Pentavalent (DTP Hib HepB) in 2008. Biological E is a major supplier of vaccines to international development and aid organisations such as

WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

, BMGF.

COVID-19 vaccine development

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the company signed a pact with

Baylor College of Medicine The Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a private medical school in Houston, Texas, United States. Originally as the Baylor University College of Medicine from 1903 to 1969, the college became independent with the current name and has been se ...

Texas Children's Hospital Texas Children's Hospital is an acute care women's and children's hospital located in Houston, Texas. With 973 beds, it is the primary pediatric teaching hospital affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and is located within the Texas Medical ...

and Dynavax Technologies to develop a

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

. The vaccine Corbevax/ Bio E COVID-19 was expected to roll out in 2021 with 75 to 80 million doses manufactured per month; the production was expected to reach 1 billion doses by the end of 2022 under the Quad initiative. In August 2020, the company signed a deal with

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

to manufacture the latter's vaccine candidate at its Hyderabad facility. In February 2021, it announced that it would produce over 600 million doses of the single-dose Janssen vaccine annually.

References

{{Authority control Biotechnology companies of India Manufacturing companies based in Hyderabad, India Pharmaceutical companies established in 1953 Indian companies established in 1953 Pharmaceutical companies COVID-19 vaccine producers