US DFC to extend $50-million vaccine assistance to Biologica E

USA-based international Development Finance Corporation (DFC) chief operating officer David Marchick and Indian biopharma firm Biological E Limited managing director Mahima Datla today unveiled the expansion of Biological E’s vaccine manufacturing facility in Hyderabad and finalized a US government financing arrangement formalizing $50 million to expand the company’s capacity to produce COVID-19 vaccines.

The continued partnership will help bolster near-term COVID-19 response efforts and will also benefit long-term global health in India and throughout the Indo-Pacific region. This work is in  support of the historic commitment set out by US President Joe Biden and his counterparts in the “Quad” – Australia, India, Japan, and the USA.

“DFC’s partnership with Biological E will support capacity for production of more than one billion vaccine doses by the end of 2022 for India and for developing countries around the world,” said the DFC’s Mr Marchick, adding: “Today’s agreement represents a model of the close collaboration among countries that will be essential to achieve President Biden’s goal of ending the pandemic in 2022. Scaling Biological E’s new facility, which is already producing vaccines, will help close the vaccine gap and save lives in developing countries.”