Bovine Expert

Established by the NDDB in 1983 to provide affordable FMD vaccines, IIL today operates the world's largest plant for veterinary vaccines.

Indian Immunologicals Ltd (IIL) is one of India's leading players in the animal health care business. Not just that, today it has expanded beyond being an animal healthcare company by adding human vaccines too. It is one of the major suppliers of rabies vaccines. Now, one of its arms, Human Biological Immunological, announced that it would manufacture and market r Hepatitis B vaccines in India subject to DCGI clearance. Human Biological Immunological has completed the conduct of phase III clinical trials in accordance with the approvals granted by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) and DCGI. The committee concluded that the containment facilities at the R&D and production premises of Human Biological Immunological are adequate to meet the environmental safety regulation for production of r-Hepatitis B vaccine.

Clearly, it is now one of the top vaccines makers in the country. The company reported a total business of Rs 102 crore in 2005-06, recording 41.85 percent growth compared to the previous year's sales of Rs 83 crore. While its animal healthcare business accounted for Rs 75.67 crore in 2005-06, the same for human health care vaccines was Rs 27 crore.

Indian Immunologicals is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and was set up in 1983, under the "Operation Flood" program to meet the growing demand for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine in India. And it is the first veterinary biological unit in India to obtain both ISO 9002 and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification as per World Health Organization (WHO) GMP guidelines.

IIL manufactures a wide range of animal health products and is a world leader in Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccines. It has an installed production capacity of 25 million quadrivalent doses of FMD vaccine, which is the largest in Asia and the second largest in the world. Its FMD flagship is called Raksha. The technical know-how for the production of "Raksha" Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine was obtained from the Wellcome Foundation Ltd.

It also has a strong research focus. As a result of this focus, IIL has brought out several preventive veterinary products like theileriosis vaccine, rabies tissue culture vaccine, oil adjuvant FMD vaccine and combined canine vaccines. IIL today exports its products, especially vaccines, to several countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Cyprus in Europe. In 2005-06, IIL's exports stood at Rs 8 crore. The company spends close to 5 percent of its revenues on R&D. It has filed for three patents in 2005-06 of which one has been for a new non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug and a novel combination DNA rabies vaccine.

The success of the company is on account of it innovative reach and services. For example, IIL entered into an agreement with Cooperative Resources International (CRI), the US-based largest cooperative breeding company, to provide advisory services aimed at improving the Indian livestock economy. The joint venture company, IndiaGen, is considered the first such venture. It aims to provide farmers with genetics and advisory services to optimize productivity and help reduce cost of milk production.

IIL has three strategic business units: Institution (government, co-operatives/milk-unions), Livestock and Petlife. IIL has distribution points at 16 locations in India.