Vaccine maker Indian Immunologicals (IIL) has started construction of its new, Rs.700 crore veterinary vaccine manufacturing facility in Hyderabad’s Genome Valley.
Foot and mouth disease vaccine (FMD-Vac) as well as combined foot and mouth disease-haemorrhagic septicaemia vaccine (FMD+HS-Vac) will be manufactured at the plant. “The brand-new unit will have a BSL3 facility for the manufacture of drug substances and a fill-finish capability for the production of both drug products of FMD vaccine and the FMD+HS vaccine,” the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) subsidiary IIL said after the ground breaking ceremony on December 28.
The plant will have a capacity of 300 million doses per annum - 150 million each of the two vaccines. The facility, to come up on a 14 acre land parcel at Biotech Park, Phase III, Karkapatla allotted by Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC), is expected to create more than 750 direct and indirect jobs.
“This new facility in Hyderabad is dedicated to the nation and aid in eradication of foot and mouth disease in the country. IIL’s ability to discover and manufacture affordable vaccines has saved the exchequer several thousand crore rupees,” NDDB and IIL Chairman Meenesh Shah said.
IIL is the largest supplier of FMD vaccine to the Livestock Health Disease Control Programme (LHDCP) of government of India. It also also exports to more than 60 countries.
“We are in an exponential growth phase and expected to grow 40% [in sales revenue] this year alone. In order to sustain the momentum, IIL is considering making additional investments in building infrastructure within India and in other emerging geographies, including Africa in a manner to develop tools that will help in control and eradication of diseases,” Managing Director K. Anand Kumar said.
IIL board members, employees and officials from NDDB participated in the ground breaking ceremony. The company had in October 2022 announced plans for the Rs.700 crore veterinary vaccine manufacturing facility in Genome Valley, which is the country’s first organised cluster for life sciences research and development and clean manufacturing activities. With infrastructure facilities in the form of industrial/knowledge parks, special economic zones (SEZs), multi-tenanted dry and wet laboratories and incubation facilities, the cluster is home to more than 200 companies with a scientific workforce of about 15,000 professionals.
