Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has announced the commercial launch of the first batch of COVAXIN® from its Chiron Behring Vaccines facility in Ankleshwar, Gujarat. 

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated the COVAXIN® batches.  Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Biotech and Suchitra Ella, Joint Managing Director, Bharat Biotech were also present at the launch.

The company has already deployed multiple production lines at its Hyderabad, Malur, Bengaluru, and Pune campuses, and the addition of Chiron Behring, Ankleshwar will further augment its COVAXIN® production capacity.

A new filing facility constructed during 2020 is now being utilized for the production of COVAXIN®. The COVAXIN® production had begun in early June, before which the team had executed engineering batches to study the equipment functionality at the facility. Chiron Behring Vaccines is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Biotech. 

Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, said, “Our goal to develop a vaccine with global safety and efficacy standards has now been achieved, we are now marching towards the goal of annualized capacity of ~ 1.0 billion doses.”