Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has announced the partnership with Biofabri, a Spanish biopharmaceutical company, to join forces to develop, manufacture and market a new tuberculosis vaccine in more than 70 countries in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

The vaccine is being manufactured and developed by Biofabri, in close collaboration with the University of Zaragoza, IAVI and the Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI). MTBVAC has been designed and discovered by Carlos Martín team of the University of Zaragoza.

This agreement between Bharat Biotech and Biofabri would guarantee the worldwide production and the supply of the future vaccine in more than 70 countries with a high TB incidence, such as India which has the highest TB burden in the world, with a 25% of all cases.

MTBVAC is one of the most promising vaccine candidates in the current global TB vaccine pipeline. The only currently available TB vaccine, the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine (BCG), was developed 100 years ago and has limited efficacy in preventing pulmonary TB in adults, who, along with adolescents, are the biggest spreaders of the disease.

"Bharat Biotech has opted for this vaccine candidate owing to its advanced stage of clinical development as well as the extremely promising results from Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials." said Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director Bharat Biotech.