Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

India firm plans coronavirus vaccine in six months

INDIA’S vaccine tycoon Cyrus Poonawalla’s business has inked a deal with the US company Codagenix to rapidly co-develop a live-attenuated vaccine against the emergent coronavirus.

With the latest collaboration, “hopefully in six months, we should be able to enter into human trials, that is our target,” Poonawalla said in a statement to The Telegraph, adding that it would take a little longer to be approved by regulators.


Usually, it takes several years for any drugmaker in the globe to market a particular vaccine after a series of trials and regulatory approvals.

Poonawalla, 78, is the founder and chairman of Serum Institute of India with an estimated worth of £7.46 billion.

Serum is the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by number of doses produced, equivalent to about 1.5 billion shots per year.

Codagenix, backed by another billionaire hedge fund tycoon Jim Simons, is on a mission for a vaccine using algorithms to analyse the genome of the coronavirus.

Poonawalla’s company expects that it will play a critical role scaling up production once a vaccine has been developed and declared fit for human use, as there are no licensed vaccines or therapeutics for this novel coronavirus, now referred to as Covid-19.

A live-attenuated vaccine has multiple advantages, including mounting an immune response to multiple antigens of the virus and the ability to scale for mass production.

It is estimated that about 65 per cent of the children in the world receive at least one vaccine manufactured by Serum, based in Pune near India’s financial capital Mumbai.

Vaccines manufactured by Serum are accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO) and are being used in around 170 countries across the globe.

The UK-educated Adar Poonawalla, son of Poonawalla, leads Serum as its chief executive officer.

Last year, Poonawalla was conferred the honorary degree of the Doctor of Science by the University of Oxford in the UK.

When Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited India in 2013, the family hosted a party for them.

Serum was founded in 1966 with the aim of manufacturing life-saving immuno-biologicals, which were in shortage in the country and imported at high prices.

Thereafter, several life-saving biologicals were manufactured at prices affordable to the common man and in abundance, with the result that the country was made self-sufficient for Tetanus anti-toxin and anti-snake Venom serum, followed by diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis group of vaccines, among many others.

Serum owns Dutch vaccine maker Bilthoven Biologicals and the Czech unit of US firm Nanotherapeutics.

More For You

Asian firm acquires Kings Court Hotel for £2.75m

UK-based Nanak Hotels acquired the 60-room Kings Court Hotel in Warwickshire for £2.75 million. (Photo: Colliers International UK)

Asian firm acquires Kings Court Hotel for £2.75m

UK-BASED Nanak Hotels recently acquired the 60-room Kings Court Hotel, a 17th-century property in Warwickshire, England, for £2.75 million. This is the first regional acquisition by the privately held firm led by British Indians Harpreet Singh Saluja and Karamvir Singh.

Nanak Hotels, which operates a UK property portfolio, plans to invest in the property's refurbishment and repositioning, according to a statement from Colliers International UK, which brokered the transaction.

Keep ReadingShow less
Priya Nair becomes first woman CEO in Hindustan Unilever's history

Priya Nair (Photo: Unilever)

Priya Nair becomes first woman CEO in Hindustan Unilever's history

PRIYA NAIR has been appointed as the CEO and managing director of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), effective from August 1. She will be the first woman to lead the company in its history.

The announcement was made by HUL on Thursday (10). Nair, who currently serves as president, Beauty & Wellbeing at Unilever, will take over the role from Rohit Jawa, who will step down on July 31 to pursue other interests.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK business district
The Canary Wharf business district including global financial institutions in London.
Getty Images

Economy shrinks again in May, hitting Labour’s growth plans

THE UK economy contracted unexpectedly in May, marking the second consecutive monthly decline, according to official data released on Friday. The figures present a challenge for the Labour government as it attempts to revive economic growth.

Gross domestic product fell by 0.1 per cent in May, following a 0.3 per cent contraction in April, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less
SBI UK cuts mortgage rates

The bank's commitment to green lending reflects focus on sustainability (Photo: Getty Images)

SBI UK cuts mortgage rates

BANKING major State Bank of India (UK) has cut interest rates on its buy-to-let mortgage products to help landlords reduce borrowing costs.

The bank said the rate cuts would help landlords invest in rental properties and meet growing demand for rental homes across the UK.

Keep ReadingShow less