About Author: Sucharita Ella co-founded Bharat Biotech with Dr Krishna Ella in 1996. With experience in customer operations, finance, marketing and business development, Mrs. Ella is a strong pillar of support and guidance at Bharat, overseeing a wide range of operations in the company. She is also the Chairperson of CII – Southern Region and Indian Women Network. Several awards have been conferred on her including Padma Bhushan-India’s 3rd highest Civilian Award.
Did you know that ‘vaccine’ was chosen as the word of the year in 2021, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary? And quite rightly so, for over two years, COVID-19 occupied a large portion of our lives. And if you stop to think about it, the vaccine, along with the widely effective immunization drives, brought normalcy back into our lives. Life is returning to whatever the new normal will be when COVID-19 transitions to an endemic disease. However, the pandemic caused earth-shattering changes in the biotech industry that will have a long-term effect on vaccine development schedules. But India proved its mettle when the world witnessed India’s vaccine developing and manufacturing prowess.
SARS-CoV-2 heralded the world into a pandemic of unpredictability. Everyone stood dejected, hoping for a vaccine to miraculously save us all. Indian vaccine makers, testers, and regulators have altered how vaccines are created, tested, and evaluated, giving them the confidence to use new technology to treat a variety of diseases and to try out novel ways to inoculate. The three major interventions in the biotech space are vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, that are indispensable to public health to prevent diseases, yet low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in particular have had insufficient access.
“While the COVID-19 narrative continues to transform the world, Bharat Biotech has delivered vaccines globally.”
I can still vividly remember how people would lose hope when informed individuals and the media prophesied that India wouldn’t be able to immunize its citizenry. Since Indians banded together to fight for a brighter, healthier future, India is today seen as the world’s saviour in developing cost-effective vaccines. We, at Bharat Biotech, persevered and innovated to rise to the challenge, creating COVAXIN®, India’s first indigenous vaccine for COVID-19, in just nine months, whereas it took more than 30 years to develop an effective vaccine for rotavirus. The road to success was undoubtedly not an easy one, with over 350 million doses being administered under Government of India’s COVID-19 vaccination programs and several million doses being exported.
The Biotech Industry Scenario
While the COVID-19 narrative continues to transform the world, Bharat Biotech has delivered vaccines globally for hepatitis B, influenza, H1N1, rotavirus, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, chikungunya, zika, and the world’s first tetanus-toxoid conjugated vaccine for typhoid. Bharat Biotech has delivered close to 5 billion doses of vaccines.
Over the past 26 years, the life sciences sector in India has grown from a nascent one to a burgeoning one. I had no idea that when my husband, Dr. Krishna Ella, and I founded Bharat Biotech in 1996, we were sowing the seeds for the nation’s biotechnology revolution. India is the third-largest biotechnology destination in the Asia Pacific area and one of the top 12 most popular biotechnology locations worldwide. India’s biotechnology sector is growing as a result of increased demand on a national and global level. Initiatives like ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India,’ are helping increase domestic demand, however, the success of Indian vaccines and biopharmaceuticals has helped enhance demand for these products internationally. India is a top location for contract production and clinical trials and exports vaccines to more than 150 nations. Companies are utilizing generics and biosimilars to control healthcare costs, and India has positioned itself as a centre to provide accessible, inexpensive healthcare that is inclusive of all people.
Research & Development
R&D must come first for every business, followed by manufacturing and development, and only then should marketing be considered. R&D, however, is the most underutilised sector in India. The Indian biotech industry has been consistently producing affordable generic drugs and vaccines with the help of our resources, geographic placement, and skilled workforce. The considerable growth in that market has proven to the world that India can produce quality drugs that are economically priced.
We at Bharat Biotech now take it to the next step by continuing our focus on investing in Research and Development that can take us to a Global standing in the Pharma industry in terms of innovation, research, development, and testing.
Research is also underway to create vaccines for Chikungunya, rotavirus, malaria, liquid rabies and Staphylococcus Aureus. We continuously monitor emerging diseases and upgrade our research portfolio to help patients in need.
“Over the past 26 years, the life sciences sector in India has grown from a nascent one to a burgeoning one.”
