Pact signed between Bharat Biotech, Gujarat Covid Vaccine Consortium: Hester Biosciences

Hester Biosciences on Thursday said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between vaccine maker Bharat Biotech and Gujarat Covid Vaccine Consortium (GCVC) for contract manufacturing the drug substance for Covaxin.
GCVC comprises Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), Hester Biosciences and Omnibrx Biotechnologies Pvt Ltd, Hester Biosciences said in a regulatory filing.

As per the MoU, Bharat Biotech shall provide the technology for the production of the drug substance for Covaxin and GBRC will act as an advisor and mentor and will facilitate the technology transfer from Bharat Biotech, it added.

Hester shall provide the complete infrastructure at its Gujarat plant for the manufacturing of the drug substance and Omnibrx shall act as a technology support partner, the filing said.

"If everything goes as per the schedule, the drug substance would be available from August 2021 which will be supplied back to Bharat Biotech for producing Covaxin," it added.

Hester has estimated an outlay of Rs 40 crore for this project, the company said.

The entire process is facilitated by the Department of Biotechnology, it added.

Shares of Hester Biosciences closed at Rs 2,717.55 per scrip on BSE, up 7.35 percent from the previous close.