Technology Development Board (TDB), M/o Science & Technology is supporting Hyderabad-based startup Sapigen Biologix for the development and commercialisation of two novel vaccines – Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine and RTS, S Malaria Vaccine.

Under the agreement signed, TDB and Bharat Biotech have pledged the support of Rs 200 crore each to create a continuous corpus of Rs 400 crores for the development and commercialisation of the two novel vaccines.

The company aims to set up a state-of-the-art cGMP facility in Bhubaneswar, in compliance with the 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.

The company intends 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.

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, Dr. Jitendra Singh said "India exported 5.84 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 70 countries. This has been possible due to availability of low-cost skilled manpower and a well-established manufacturing ecosystem."