Serum Institute of India

Serum Institute of India (SII) is an Indian biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals company. It is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer. It is located in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, and was founded by Cyrus Poonawalla in 1966. The company is a subsidiary of the holding company Poonawalla Investment and Industries.
Overview.
The Serum Institute of India was founded in 1966 in Pune. The company set out to produce immunobiologicals, which were imported into India at high prices. Among the first products the Serum Institute of India manufactured in large quantities were the tetanus antitoxin, snake antivenom, DPT vaccine, and MMR vaccine. The company's product lines was expanded to include different types of vaccines against bacterial or virus infections, combination vaccines, influenza vaccine, and meningococcal vaccine. Besides vaccine the company also manufactures antisera, blood plasma, and hormone products. As of 2014 the vaccines manufactured by the Serum Institute of India have been used in international vaccination programmes run by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Today the Serum Institute of India is run by the Poonawalla Group and engages in research, development, and manufacturing.
In 2009 the company began developing an intranasal swine flu vaccine. The company's first international acquisition was Bilthoven Biologicals, a biopharmaceutical company in Netherlands, in 2012. In 2016, with support from US-based Mass Biologics of University of Massachusetts Medical School, the Serum Institute of India invented a fast-acting anti-rabies agent, Rabies Human Monoclonal Antibody (RMAb), also known as Rabishield.
, the company is the world's largest vaccine producer by number of doses produced, manufacturing around 1.5 billion doses of vaccines each year. The products developed include tuberculosis vaccine Tubervac (BCG), Poliovac for poliomyelitis, and other vaccinations for the childhood vaccination schedule.
COVID-19 vaccine development.
The company has partnered with the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which is developing AZD1222 in partnership with Oxford University. It is reported that Serum Institute would provide 100 million (10 crore) doses of the vaccine for India and other low and middle-income countries. This target was later increased to 1 billion doses by the end of 2021. It is estimated to be priced at ₹225 (around $3) per dose. In September 2020, trials were halted by DCGI after a volunteer in Oxford developed illness following vaccination, but were soon resumed after consent by the British regulators. In December 2020, the Serum Institute of India sought emergency approval for the vaccine developed with AstraZeneca which was approved a month later. In March 2021, an agreement was reached to supply some doses to the UK.
Serum Institute of India has also reached an agreement with Novavax for the production of Novavax’s NVX-CoV2373 (Covovax) vaccine for India and other low and middle-income countries. The company will also produce Codagenix's nasally administered COVID-19 vaccine CDX-005 (tradename "COVI-VAC")
Attempted data theft.
In March 2021, Reuters reported that Chinese state-backed cyber-espionage group Red Apollo targeted the Serum Institute of India's intellectual property for exfiltration.