Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India is supporting COVID-19 vaccine development by facilitating  the establishment of the r-VSV vaccine manufacturing platform for the first time in India under the National Biopharma Mission.

This support to establishing r-VSV vaccine manufacturing platform is being extended to Aurobindo Pharma Limited in Hyderabad which is developing a vaccine for SARS COV-2 (COVID-19).

This SARS COV-2 vaccine candidate is based on the company’s proprietary replication-competent, attenuated, recombinant vesicular stomatitis (VSV, VesiculoVax™) vaccine delivery platform.

Aurobindo is in the process of setting up a state-of-art manufacturing facility for viral vaccines which will be used to produce the COVID-19 vaccine and other viral vaccines.The plant will comply to global standards.

Commenting on the collaboration with Aurobindo, Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT and Chairperson, BIRAC said, “The partnership with Aurobindo is to serve the country’s need for a vaccine to fight this pandemic. The government is focused on creating an ecosystem that nurtures and encourages new product innovation to address the most relevant issues to our society.”