Hilleman Laboratories is a Delhi-based vaccine research organization. The firm is an equal-joint venture between US drug maker
Merck & Co Inc and British charitable foundation
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...
. The research firm is named in the honour of Dr.
Maurice Ralph Hilleman (1919–2005).
Activities
Vaccine research
![HillemanBuilding](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/HillemanBuilding.JPG)
Hilleman Laboratories conducts various vaccine research and science programs to develop cost-effective vaccines especially for developing countries.
Vaccine programs
Hilleman Laboratories is involved into the development of both new vaccines for area of unmet needs, and optimizing existing vaccines. The firm establishes a portfolio of research projects based on disease priorities and technology opportunities that make a difference to vaccine development and programs in developing countries.
Current projects
Heat-stable rotavirus vaccine
Hilleman Laboratories has recently announced a significant advancement in improving access to the life-saving
rotavirus
''Rotavirus'' is a genus of double-stranded RNA viruses in the family ''Reoviridae''. Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children. Nearly every child in the world is infected with a rotavirus a ...
vaccine to children. The vaccine candidate will have optimized bulk antigen production processes combined with simple yet robust formulation and a scalable fill/finish to ensure a competitively priced vaccine which will improve access in the low-resource settings like
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
The firm's focus is to heat stabilize the existing vaccine and bring it to vaccine vial monitor (VVM) 30 levels and higher. This will determine the feasibility of applying latest delivery technologies to an existing oral rotavirus vaccine to make it thermostable for further opportunities.
Optimized cholera vaccine
Hilleman Laboratories, in collaboration with Gotovax AB (a University of Gothenburg spin-off biopharmaceutical company), is seeking to create highly effective oral cholera vaccine at a considerably more affordable price than existing ones available in the market. This vaccine is intended to be easy to use, with cross protection against enterotoxigenic ''Escherichia coli'' (ETEC) diarrhea, and be optimized for a longer shelf life. It will be most favorable for geographies with the highest cholera burden, like Africa and South Asia.
Enterotoxigenic ''E. coli'' vaccine
Hilleman Laboratories, in association with the
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust.
It is located on the Wellcome G ...
, Cambridge, UK, has started an ETEC vaccine project to formulate an oral inactivated vaccine against ETEC diarrhea. The project involves generation of genetically modified vaccine strains that would highly express immunogenic antigens on their surface. This low-cost vaccine option will be most suited for regions with highest cholera cases, such as Africa and South Asia.
Low-cost MenACYWX conjugate meningococcal vaccine
Hilleman Laboratories has initiated a two-pronged strategy to develop low-cost combination vaccine for treatment of invasive meningococcal disease. It uses a newer method that makes the use of synthetic organic chemistry to create short oligosaccharides. These oligosaccharides mimic the carbohydrate epitopes present in longer repeat units found in bacterial capsular polysaccharides. In addition, chemical linkers can be directly designed into the synthetic carbohydrates. This latest method has the potential to significantly reduce costs and create new intellectual property, allowing developing country manufacturers undertake more conjugate vaccine development projects.
Shigella vaccine
Hilleman Laboratories has joined with Kolkata-based
National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases
National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases or NICED (also known as ICMR-NICED) is an Indian medical institute that conducts research and develops prevention and treatment and control strategies related to enteric diseases and HIV/AIDS. The ...
(NICED), an Indian Council of Medical Research (
ICMR
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world.
The ICMR is funded by the Gove ...
) organization, to develop a vaccine against
shigella
''Shigella'' is a genus of bacteria that is Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, non-spore-forming, nonmotile, rod-shaped, and genetically closely related to ''E. coli''. The genus is named after Kiyoshi Shiga, who first discovered it in 1897. ...
, a bacterium that causes
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
.
Currently, there is no approved vaccine available to prevent
shigellosis
Shigellosis is an infection of the intestines caused by ''Shigella'' bacteria. Symptoms generally start one to two days after exposure and include diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and feeling the need to pass stools even when the bowels are emp ...
. This bacterium is the second most deadly cause of diarrhea in children, after
rotavirus
''Rotavirus'' is a genus of double-stranded RNA viruses in the family ''Reoviridae''. Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoeal disease among infants and young children. Nearly every child in the world is infected with a rotavirus a ...
.
References
{{reflist
Health care companies of India
Pharmacy organisations in India
Companies based in New Delhi
Indian companies established in 2009