Ahmedabad, July 22 With all the machinery in place at the new plant, biotech player Hester Biosciences Ltd expects to start producing the drug substance for Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin by November-December this year.

In response to a query from BusinessLine, Hester Biosciences Managing Director Rajiv Gandhi said production of Covaxin from the company's new BSL-III-compliant manufacturing facility "will start around November-December."

Notably, the production timeline was earlier projected around July.

In an investor call in May, Gandhi said all the required machinery was in place and the company would "soon begin validation of the facility and then begin trial production."

The commercial rollout was extended by a few months due to a delay in import of equipment.

According to company officials, some of the crucial machinery and equipment for the green-field Biosafety Level-III compliant facility had to be imported. But imports were delayed due to disruptions during shipment, delaying the project.

Hester has spent around Rs 70 crore towards building the multipurpose BSLIII-compliant facility at Mehsana, which can be used for handling microorganisms of animals as well as human beings. The investment is in addition to the grant of Rs 60 crore from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) to support Covid vaccine manufacture under the Government’s Mission Covid Suraksha.

In an earlier interaction with BusinessLine, Gandhi had said the company has inked an agreement with Bharat Biotech to supply 7 million doses-equivalent of finished products.

The multipurpose plant gives the company confidence to use it for other microorganisms, viruses, and bacteria for the development of other vaccines, given the sharp reduction in Covid cases in India and the subsequent dip in demand for Covid vaccines, globally.

Gandhi had said, "Our present objective is to produce only the Covid vaccine substance for Covaxin. But going forward, if Covid incidence drops and the business dynamics change, we need to be prepared for the second plan. We are making a multipurpose BSL-III lab, which in the days to come, could be used for other vaccine production. This could be our gateway to get into human vaccines."

Hester Biosciences shares end up 0.4 per cent at Rs 2,223.85 on BSE Friday.

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