Bhubaneswar: A quadripartite license agreement (QLA) was signed for the technology transfer and future commercialisation of a novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate titled ‘HSP Subunit Vaccine in Adjuvant (DDA) Against Mycobacterium tuberculosis’.
The agreement was signed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar, Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar and the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) with TechInvention Lifecare Limited.
The landmark agreement was formalised at ILS Bhubaneswar in the presence of senior dignitaries including ILS Director Dr Debasis Dash, IIT Bhubaneswar Director Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar, IIT Bhubaneswar Dean (Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy) Prof. Dinakar Pasla, Senior Regional Manager & Head – Outreach Offices of NRDC Dr BK Sahu, TechInvention Lifecare Limited Director & CEO Syed S Ahmed, ILS Bhubaneswar Dcientist Dr Sunil Kumar Raghav, IIT Bhubaneswar School of Basic Sciences Professor Dr Ashis Biswas, and other distinguished guests.
HSP Subunit Vaccine candidate, jointly developed by ILS and IIT Bhubaneswar, marks a significant advancement in India’s efforts to combat Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The partnership will ensure that the vaccine candidate advances efficiently from research to product development, validation and eventual commercialisation.
It’s part of India’s mission to eliminate tuberculosis and underscores the transformative potential of indigenous, research-driven healthcare innovations for national and global health.
TB is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, having claimed 1.23 million lives in 2024, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the key global health priorities under United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to end the TB epidemic by 2030.
The Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG) vaccine, developed more than a century ago, provides limited protection to infants. In order to prevent pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults, the next-generation HSP Subunit Vaccine has been developed through collaborative research led by Prof. Ashis Biswas of IIT Bhubaneswar and Dr Sunil Kumar Raghav of ILS, Bhubaneswar.
The latest vaccine candidate is designed to trigger strong humoral and cell-mediated immune responses while enhancing the protective efficacy of the existing BCG vaccine.
