Gates Foundation provides funding for two Indian firms for vaccine research

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this week revealed that it will fund two Indian firms - Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech - to develop and sell vaccines for pneumonia and diarrhea that kills thousands of children every year, at less than half the current market price, according to a report in the Economic Times of India.

"The foundation will fund part of the cost for the clinical trials," Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman and MD of Serum Institute of India told the newspaper. He declined to say how much money the Foundation will contribute but noted that it costs about $10-20 million and $20-30 million to conduct clinical studies for pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccine, respectively.

Both Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech are privately held local firms and will separately develop their vaccines. Krishna Ella, managing director of Bharat Biotech, said it has already started phase III trials of the rotavirus vaccine being developed from an indigenously discovered human strain. He declined to share details, the Economic Times said.