CEO: Ganesh S Dhamdhare

Unhindered Growth

Chiron Behring has increased its sales by 16 percent during the year

It was a year of smooth sailing for the Indian arm of this MNC which was hit by the flu vaccines crisis in 2004. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Chiron Corporation, Chiron Behring Vaccines Pvt Ltd (CBVPL) was established in 1989 under the flagship of erstwhile Hoechst India Ltd and in 1998 it was taken over by Chiron Corporation. With work force of over 75 CBVPL was able to make sales of Rs 78 crore for the year 2004-05 registering a 16.4 percent growth against last year's sales of Rs 67 crore. It is growing at the rate of 15 percent every year.

The CBVPL is a joint venture company in which another global pharma major, Aventis has 49 percent stake. As per the agreement, CBVPL will manufacture Rabipur - anti rabies vaccines for Aventis Pharma upto April 2008. It has a technical collaboration with Chiron Corporation. During the year it has entered into a strategic alliance with Panacea Biotec, New Delhi. The new joint venture company, Chiron Panacea Vaccines, will focus on providing new breakthrough vaccines in India. Both Panacea and Chiron are investing $1 million in this joint venture.

This joint venture company is the first to develop the breakthrough fully liquid Pentavalent combination vaccine, which will protect against five potentially life threatening infectious diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Hepatitis-B and H.Influenzae type b, which is a major causative bacteria for pneumonia and meningitis.

Chiron Behring has a registered office in Mumbai for registration, marketing and sale of its products and has a manufacturing facility at Ankleshwar in Gujarat. This facility is located at Aventis Pharma's manufacturing unit. The plant is one amongst the few in the world to be pre qualified by WHO, Geneva for supply of anti rabies vaccines to UN countries. It has certification from MCC South Africa for supply
of anti rabies vaccines to African countries. Besides it exports to Asia Pacific countries including Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines, Vietnam, and Egypt. It is looking at consolidating its presence in India.

Chiron Vaccines is the world's fifth largest vaccines company and has its headquarters in Oxford, UK, with facilities located throughout Europe, the US and Asia. The company is the world's second largest manufacturer of flu vaccines, and has important meningitis, paediatric and travel vaccine franchises. It is the leading vaccine manufacturer in the UK, Germany, Italy and India. Its portfolio of products includes vaccines for influenza, meningitis C, yellow fever, rabies, tick borne encephalitis, haemophilus influenzae B (Hib), polio, mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). It has been at the forefront of medical revolution for nearly 100 years, and the company remains as one of the key players in the field of vaccines. In addition to its current product
range, Chiron Vaccines is investing to improve existing vaccines, and to develop new vaccines to protect against diseases for which none
currently exists, such as meningitis B and HIV.

Besides manufacturing it is also involved in the development of newer vaccines. It has a very interesting pipeline that will allow it to strengthen its position in flu and meningitis prevention, where it could be the only company to provide a range of vaccines covering all the relevant meningococcal strains. It has as many as seven products (three in meningococcal disease and four in viral infection) at different stages of development from Phase I to Phase IV trials.