US agency invests $50M in Biological E to produce 1 billion vaccine doses by 2022
DFCs partnership with Biological E will support capacity for production of more than one billion vaccine doses by the end of 2022 for India and for developing countries around the world
By Newsmeter Network Published on 25 Oct 2021 1:34 PM GMT
Hyderabad: US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) on Monday announced an investment of US$50 million to expand the COVID- 19 vaccine manufacturing capacity of Hyderabad-based Biological E Limited (BE).
On Monday, an agreement was signed between DFC chief operating officer David Marchick and Biological E managing director Mahima Datla.
The US consul general, Joel Reifman, Indian ministry of external affairs joint secretary Vani Rao, Telangana principal secretary of IT and industries Jahesh Ranjan, Japanese consul general Taga Masayuki, and Australian consul general Sarah Kirlew were present at the programme.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Mahima said the financial support from the US government, especially the DFC, was announced at the Quad Summit in March 2021. "This investment will not only help us augment our capacity to produce more COVID-19 vaccines, but also help the global community that has been relentlessly fighting against the spread of the pandemic," she added.
Mr. Marchick said the agreement represents a model of close collaboration among countries that will be essential to achieve US President Joe Biden's goal of ending the pandemic in 2022. "Scaling Biological E's new facility, which is already producing vaccines, will help close the vaccine gap and save lives in developing countries," he said.
Speaking to the media after the programme, Ms. Mahima said the company has already started manufacturing Corbevax and is planning to launch it at the end of November with a supply of 10 crore doses.
