BioAsia, organised by the Government of Telangana, has announced that the Genome Valley Excellence Award for the year 2021 will be bestowed upon Bharat Biotech International for research, development and commercialisation of vaccines including COVAXIN (COVID-19 Vaccine), Rabies vaccine, Rotavirus vaccine, Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, Polio vaccine and Typhoid Conjugate vaccines, among others. Dr Krishna M Ella, Chairman & MD, and Suchitra Ella, Joint MD, Bharat Biotech International will receive the award on February 22, 2021, during the inaugural event of BioAsia 2021.

Bharat Biotech was selected by the International Advisory Board of BioAsia comprising of Ajit Shetty (Corporate Vice President Global Operations, Johnson & Johnson USA (retd.) and Chairman Emeritus, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Belgium); Makarand Jawadekar, (Former Director, Pfizer, US); Robert Naismith, (Former Chairman, JUJAMA, US), among others.

The company has delivered more than four billion doses of vaccine all over the world including eco-friendly recombinant hepatitis-b vaccine, rotavirus vaccine from a naturally attenuated strain and typhoid conjugate vaccine.

Speaking on the announcement of the 2021 Genome Valley Excellence Award, KT Rama Rao, Minister for Industries & Commerce, Government of Telangana said, “Presenting the Genome ValleyExcellence Award is one of the highlights of the BioAsia summit organised every year. Over the years, the Genome Valley Excellence Award has been presented to eminent personalities among the global Life Sciences community. We are honoured to present this award to Bharat Biotech for its relentless work towards developing affordable vaccines for the global community and most recently, the remarkable work to help combat the COVID-19. The years of persistent work by Bharat Biotech under the able leadership of Dr Krishna Ella and Dr Suchitra Ella has indeed helped the Telangana and India to show its prowess to the world in the life sciences industry.”

Shakthi Nagappan, Director, Lifesciences & Pharma, Government of Telangana said, “Genome Valley Excellence Award was instituted during the inaugural edition of BioAsia to recognise and honour eminent individuals and organisation for their exceptional contribution to the Lifesciences research and public health. Over the years, the award has gained significant stature and prestige. Recent awardees include several Nobel Prize winner’s Dr’s Kurt Wuthrich, Ada Yonath, Harald zur Hausen, Barry Marshall, Martin J Evans, Food Laureates, Lasker Awardees, and eminent leaders like CEO of Novartis, Vas Narasimhan; Richard W Vague, Professor in Immunotherapy, Dr Carl June, CEO of GAVI Dr Seth Berkley, among others.”

Also, the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA), a partner organisation of BioAsia, has announced that the FABA Special Award will be bestowed upon Dr Balram Bhargava for his exemplary contributions to medicine and healthcare. Dr Balram Bhargava has been serving as the Secretary to Government of India, Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare & Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research since 2018.

FABA represents 20 Asian countries with a common interest in promoting human health through advances in Biotechnology, instituted the “FABA Special Award” in BioAsia 2010. Further, the Federation has announced that the award has been renamed as “Dr B.S. Bajaj Memorial FABA award” in memory of the late Dr B.S. Bajaj, who was a founding member of the Federation.

The principal industry hosts for BioAsia 2021 are Novartis and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Further, the industry co-host for the event are Aurobindo, Hetero Biopharma and Laurus Labs.