Biovet commissions Asia's first BSL-4 facility

Bangalore, Apr 23 (UNI) Biovet, an integrated biotechnology company with core focus on animal health, today announced the commissioning of Asia's first Bio Safety Level four (BSL-4) facility for manufacturing 60 million doses of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine.

Briefing newspersons here, company Chairman Krishna Ella said the new facility had come up in KIADB-Industrial area in Malur, about 30 km from here. The FMD vaccine was currently under final stages of development and was slated for commercialisation during the current fiscal.

The bio-containment facility, only the second of its type in the world, had been built as per the highest standards of current Good Manufacturing Procedures (GMP).

The CSIR had extended a soft loan of Rs 190 crore and the entire production of the vaccine would be supplied to the government.

''Our goal is to address the significant gap in the application of latest technologies for providing health care solutions for small and large animals. Thanks to the CSIR funds, we will be supplying FMD vaccine at just Rs 6.50 per dose. In the international market, the same will cost Rs 60 to Rs 80 per dose,'' he said.

FMD in cattle, which was highly contagious, is known to be airborne with ability to travel long distances and affects thousands of cattle in the vicinity.

''India, the largest producer of milk, is losing five billion dollars annually due to FMD. The country is now free of rinderpest that had led to export of livestock, which contributed US Dollar 6.71 billion dollars to the GDP. If we can get rid of FMD, it will greatly benefit the rural masses,'' he added.

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