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Bharat Biotech to start pre-clinical trials of vaccine for Zika virus
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has filed for global patent of two vaccine candidates – a recombinant vaccine and an inactivated vaccine – for Zika virus.
The company announced that it could make available the inactivated vaccine in two years if the Indian Government fast-tracked the regulatory approvals once the pre-clinical trials proved to be successful.
/ The Hindu
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of the company, said that Bharat Biotech was probably the first in the world to file for global patent for the two promising Zikavac vaccine candidates.
While the recombinant vaccine might take time, the pre-clinical testing of the inactivated vaccine in animals would be completed in five months.
He said that the company had invested over $ 150 million since its inception to build its portfolio of vaccines, which included Rotovac (rotavirus vaccine) and Typbar TCV, typhoid conjugate vaccine. He said that a patent was also filed for Chikungunya vaccine, which would be entering Phase-1 trials shortly.
Bharat Biotech Director R & D Sumathy said that work on Zika vaccine project was started in 2014 and the patent was filed in July 2015. She said that Zika fever was an unmet healthcare need in India and other countries and the potential for Zika virus epidemic was high.
Mr. Krishna Ella said the normal process for a vaccine to get commercialised would take seven years, including the clinical trials.
However, he said that the Zikavac vaccine could be made available if the Indian Government declares national emergency and moves aggressively in regulatory approvals. He said that women would be the prime target group for the vaccine, followed by adults of both the genders since the virus causes Guillain-Barre syndrome in them.
A Bharat Biotech press release said that the WHO just announced a disease linked to the Zika virus in Latin America poses a global public health emergency requiring a united response.
Zika is now present in 23 countries. Brazil, the hardest-hit country, has reported around 3,500 cases of the devastating birth defect called microcephaly. The Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes of the Aedes genus, which can breed in a pool of water as small as a bottle cap and usually bite during the day.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Business / by Y. Mallikarjun / Hyderabad – February 03rd, 2016
Six Startups Attract Investors Support
Hyderabad :
It’s always a major problem for the startups to attract investors and get some funding, but it was not so on Saturday.
Six out of the 11 startups which have pitched their ideas at ‘Startup-a-thon 1.0’ have been able to attract investors and are now just a step away from getting some funding ranging between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 1.50 crore.
Out of the six, four startups will directly go for negotiations with investors and the remaining two need to pass through another round and will be allowed to have negotiations only if they clear this particular round. Besides, the event has also provided an opportunity to all the other startups (30) to get some mentorship opportunity.
“Mentoring and funding are the two major problems the startups face and, in order to solve these issues, we have organised this problem. Although only six startups have got short-listed, the main advantage of this programme is that every startup that participated in the event got some mentorship. Now, they know exactly what they are lacking and, by working on their weakness in future, they will be in a better state to pitch,” Maj. Sunil Shetty (retd), CEO and founder of Ask Mentor, said.
The two-day event also witnessed the inauguration of college-specific incubation centre at St Martin Engineering College (SMEC), Kompally. On day one, a mentoring workshop and preliminary round of startup pitches was held and eleven students were selected and were given a chance to pitch to the investors.
“Generally, a student takes at least five years’ time after graduation to become a entrepreneur. Our main aim is to reduce this gap by providing mentorship programme. In order to provide support to the youngsters, we started an incubator at SMEC college. This will be made available even to the outside students so that every student gets benefit from this,” said Rajiv Lulla, director (strategy) of askfunding.in.
“The initiative taken by askmentor and askfunding is commendable. In order to show our support for the event, we are introducing our developer platform to students so that they can make use of it. It is same as the in-house site we use and anyone can register freely and make use of the basic services,” Manoj Sharma, CTO of Quikr.com, said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telangana / by Express News Service / January 31st, 2016
Monograph on writer Suddhala Hanumanthu released
The Akademi had assigned the job to famous poet and writer from Nalgonda, Venu Sankoju. It was brought out under the title ‘The Makers of Indian Literature’.
Paying tributes to noted writer Suddhala Hanumanthu (1910-1982), who had actively taken part in the Telangana Armed Rebellion, Sahitya Akademi brought out a monograph on his life and contributions to Telugu language.
The Akademi had assigned the job to famous poet and writer from Nalgonda, Venu Sankoju. It was brought out under the title ‘The Makers of Indian Literature’ by the Akademi with an intention to reintroducing famous Indian writers to younger generation, especially those who had made outstanding contribution to Indian literature and language throughout their life. The author, Venu Sankoju, told The Hindu that the oppression of people by landlords during the Nizam rule had inspired Suddhala Hanumanthu to become a writer and singer. To highlight the plight of rural people during the Nizam rule, Mr. Venu Sankoju said writer Hanumanthu had given folk performances like Yakshaganam, Burrakatha, Gollasuddulu, Rajakiya Sadhuveshalu and others to sensitise the people.
Mr. Sankoju said the death of Doddi Komaraiah and Chakali Ilamma’s heroic fight against Visunur Desmukh motivated writer Hanumanthu.
Explaining the life of the poor during the Nizam era, the author had given a detail account in the 102-page monograph on the practice of bonded labour which writer Hanumanthu strongly opposed. His association with Arya Samaj and his family’s migration from Paladugu village to Suddhala village was found mention. Mr. Sankoju said when shoot at site orders were issued by the Nizam in 1947 against writer Hanumanthu, he fled to Bombay and worked as a tailor for a living.
It is be a must read for people who love to read the crucial phase in the Telangana history.
Mr. Venu Sankoju, a retired lecturer, has written many poems like Manishiga Puche Matti , Manam , Nelakala , Prana Pradhamina and others and he was editor the editor of Veera Telangana monthly. He has also won Sahitya Purashkaram given by the Telugu University.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by T. Karnakar Reddy / Nalgonda – February 01st, 2016