Dr Jitendra Singh calls for equal stake participation by industry to sustain start-ups

The Union Minister was speaking at the ceremony to sign an agreement between Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Ministry of Science & Technology and Sapigen Biologix

Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space has called for equal stake participation by industry to sustain start-ups.

The Union Minister was speaking at the ceremony to sign an agreement between Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Ministry of Science & Technology and Sapigen Biologix, Hyderabad helmed by Dr Krishna Ella of Bharat Biotech for development & commercialisation of two novel vaccines-Intranasal COVID-19 vaccine and RTS, S Malaria vaccine. Further, there will be equal stake for both sides with each side contributing Rs 200 crore respectively for ensuring sustainable start-ups.

Dr Singh said that this initiative will ensure equal stake with equal partnership and responsibility for the industry for sustainable start-ups. He said that the vaccine strategy of India symbolises Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of an Atma Nirbhar Bharat. He said that India’s vaccine strategy brings together pharma, industry and academia together in a partnership with an eye on meeting the current as well as possible future challenges, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

Under the agreement signed, Technology Development Board and Bharat Biotech have pledged support of Rs 200 crore each to create a continuous corpus of Rs 400 crores for development and commercialisation of two novel vaccines –Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine” and “RTS, S Malaria Vaccine”. The company aims to set up a state-of-the art cGMP facility in Bhubaneswar, in compliance with latest global standards, for manufacturing Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine and (RTS, S) Malaria Vaccine initially and later expand the product portfolio by adding other vaccines.

Both the vaccines are novel and will come under the ambit of commercial production for the first time. The company aims to produce 100 million doses/annum of intranasal COVID-19 vaccine by April 2023 and 15 million doses/ annum RTS, S Malaria vaccine by the end of April 2025.