New Delhi: Union Health Secretary Apoorva Chandra visited the manufacturing unit of the global pharmaceutical company on Wednesday Bilthoven Biologicals In Utrecht, Netherlands.

Additionally, the Union Health Secretary met CEO Juergen Quick and CEO of Poonawalla Science Park (pspThe EU pandemic preparedness partnership and cooperation on the production of vaccines were discussed in Bilthoven Joff de Klerk, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a press release.

“He also met the senior management and was briefed about the various manufacturing units of the facility. A detailed presentation was given on their future manufacturing plans. Bilthoven Biologicals BV Company produces pharmaceutical products like polio, diphtheria-tetanus-polio and vaccines Tetanus with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), the press release said.

Bioengineering and vaccine production firm Bilthoven Biologicals was purchased by Serum India Limited in 2012. This has strengthened its capacity to produce vaccines and also provided it with a valuable manufacturing base in Europe.

Recently Serum and Bharat Biotech have announced collaboration for advanced production of OPV. Bharat Biotech will collaborate with the wholly owned arm of Netherlands-based Bilthoven Biologicals BV, Serum Institute of India,

According to a press release, an agreement has been signed under which India will procure pharmaceutical substances for biotech manufacturing oral polio vaccineWill be supplied within India and globally. This will contribute to the supply security of oral polio vaccines. With this partnership, BBIL’s capacity to manufacture Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) has increased to 500 million doses every year.

The Universal Immunization Program (UIP) of the Union Health Ministry is one of the major interventions to protect children from life-threatening conditions by providing vaccinations, including the vaccine against polio. India has been certified polio free in March 2014. However, to maintain polio-free status, polio vaccine is administered to children as part of high-quality national and sub-national polio rounds across the country.

Continuous supply of OPV is essential to keep India polio free. The partnership between BBIL and Serum will contribute to providing continuous supply of OPV in the country.