‘A neglected disease could turn into pandemic’

Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director, Krishna Ella, has said that if the next pandemic happens, it could be in the animal space and in food security area.

He said his company always believed that a neglected disease could turn into pandemic in the future, and that “we need to get prepared for that”, he said.

Addressing a CII Leadership Summit Conference here on Wednesday, he said that the vaccine for Chikungunya, which was being funded by CEPI, was in Phase-III clinical trials in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and India.

“When it is ready, it will be the first vaccine for Chikungunya in the world,” he said.

CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) announced a funding of $14 million two years ago to a consortium comprising Bharat Biotech and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) for the development of a vaccine for Chikungunya.

He said the country as a whole and the State were better prepared to tackle, should a new pandemic happen again.

Tackling inefficiencies

He said there was a need to address inefficiencies that had crept into companies.

“We need to get serious on some issues. Inefficiency should be looked at very seriously, instead of questioning government officials, this is very important,” he said.

Asking the industry to help the agrarian sector, he said this was the only sector that continued to grow even during the pandemic.