Biologicals firm Indian Immunologicals Ltd. (IIL) is setting up a sterile filling facility (SFF) near Hyderabad with an investment of ₹75 crore. The facility is expected to increase its capacity to supply lifesaving vaccines such as the Anti Rabies Vaccine (ARV) Abhayrab.
On Monday, announcing the ground-breaking for the facility at its manufacturing plant in Phase III of Genome Valley, Karkapatla in neighbouring Ranga Reddy district, an IIL statement said the SFF was expected to be ready next year. It is equipped with high-end filling equipment, in line with the requirements of the nature of work handled at the plant.
“The expansion at Karkapatla plant is in line with our mission and to help meet growing requirements of critical vaccines,” managing director K. Anand Kumar said.
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The move of the Hyderabad-headquartered company comes in the backdrop of reports over the past few months indicating several States in the country have reported shortages of ARV due to a combination of factors, including growing demand, imperfect demand signal and supply disruptions. Reports indicate that the shortages sometime extend to the tune of 60-80%, the release said.
Deputy managing director Prasanna Deshpande said there were reports of shortages of anti-rabies vaccine in the country: “Investment in a new sterile filling facility shows that IIL is committed to expanding manufacturing capacity to meet unmet public health needs in India.”
A part of National Dairy Development Board, IIL has manufacturing facilities at Karkapatla, Telangana for human vaccines and animal health formulations; anti rabies production unit in Ooty, Tamil Nadu; human biologicals unit and animal vaccines unit in Hyderabad; and a bovine serum unit in New Zealand.
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