Zydus Cadila, Berna Biotech tie up to develop cancer vaccines

Mumbai: The Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila will form a strategic alliance with Berna Biotech, the Swiss vaccine major, to develop cancer vaccines.

As per the agreement, Berna will share research technologies related to some potential products in oncology, including recombinant live bacteria technology, virosomes technology and certain monoclonal antibodies, to Zydus Cadila.

Berna Biotech is a worldwide leader in recombinant live bacteria technology that uses harmless but highly immunogenic bacteria to elicit immunity against specific pathogens.

Vaccines derived from live attenuated bacteria may serve a dual purpose by immunity against both the foreign antigen and the carrier bacterium itself.

Berna Biotech also has more than 40 monoclonal antibodies as candidates. These are targeted against infectious, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Berna also has plans to explore the possibility of clinically developing a candidate cancer vaccine for the treatment of colon cancer and melanoma in the pre-clinical stage in India, say Berna officials.