
As the Indian government was very keen on developing an indigenous Rotavirus vaccine that could reduce a large number of deaths due to the disease, relying on a three-year-old company for the project was a tough call to make. After discussion at the highest level, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) accepted the Bharat Biotech proposal and began the work on the project that turned out to be one of the country’s biggest successes of the Biotechnology sector in the country. The fruit of the enduring labour that continued for over 15 years materialised in the year 2014 when the Rotavirus vaccine developed by the company was licensed. True to its stated commitment, Bharat Biotech developed the vaccine at an affordable price of a dollar per dose which was 200 times cheaper than the two other vaccines available in the world which cost $200 per dose.
Gagandeep Kang, who is a virologist and Professor of Microbiology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, told the Indian Express that the risk taken by Krishna Ella (promoter of Bharat Biotech) had paid off especially after a large majority of the scientific community had taken the Rotavirus field to be dead after the withdrawal of the American vaccine. Kang, however, did not forget to mention the highly supportive role played by the Department of Biotechnology in the project as a large part of the research undertaken during the project was undertaken in the United States with the active involvement of US institutions.
Soon after the company had been chosen by the DBT for the Rotavirus vaccine, the company shipped out the first batch of vaccine it had developed for Hepatitis B in the year 1999. At that time, the company did not even have its own office and operated out of a rented three-storeyed building in Jubilee Hills area of Hyderabad. A former employee of the company told the Indian Express that the sense of jubilation and contentment among the whole staff led by Ella was evident from the fact that Ella himself saw off the truck that collected the first shipment.
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