NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Hilleman Laboratories, a global vaccine development initiative set up by UK-based biomedical research charity Wellcome Trust and US-drug multinational Merck and Co., is in talks with at least a couple of Indian vaccine manufacturers and government institutions to license out its technologies, including a low-cost Meningitis vaccine and heat-stable Rotavirus vaccine. The technology transfer deals, once signed and implemented, will make the Indian companies global supplier of these novel vaccines.

The not-for-profit vaccine research institution, headquartered in India, was set up with an objective of creating new vaccines in areas of unmet need as well as developing existing vaccines for more effective delivery in low income nations. Currently it is working on  five different projects, which include a thermo-stable Rota virus vaccine, a low-cost vaccine to prevent Bacterial Meningitis, new vaccines for Cholera and E-coli induced diarrhea in children and a novel conjugate vaccine for Haemophilus Influenzae Type-b (Hib).

“All our current projects, except Rotavirus and Cholera, are at the pre-clinical trial stage now and we have initiated talks with potential partners, including some of the leading private vaccine manufacturers and a couple of government organisations in India, for further development and commercial production,” said Davinder Gill, chief executive officer, Hilleman Lab, in an exclusive interview with BW Businessworld on Monday (26 October).

Hilleman Lab will take the diarrhea vaccines (Rotavirus and Cholera) up to clinical trial stage on its own and will license out to leading vaccine manufacturers for commercial production and marketing, Gill said.

Gill did not disclose the names of Indian companies with whom his organisation is in talks for licensing these technologies due to confidentiality reasons.