Hyderabad, Oct. 22: There was need for development of indigenous vaccines for malaria and HIV to enable India to be in the forefront of emerging frontiers in healthcare, the scientific adviser to the Defence Ministry Bharat Ratna APJ Abdul Kalam said.

Launching a new vaccine for Hepatitis B virus here on Thursday, he said, "India has all the required technological and scientific capability achieve these goals."

The vaccine, Revac-B, was developed by Bharat Biotech International Ltd using recombinant DNA technology, company chairman and managing director Krishna Ella said.

The Revac-B vaccine was a successful culmination of collaborative research between BBIL and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Congratulating BBIL, Kalam hoped that the same team would succeed in developing vaccines for malaria and HIV. The product was dedicated to G Padmanabhan, emeritus professor at the IISc, who was also present on the occasion.

Krishna said that Revac-B has been approved by the World Health Organisation, the United States Food and Drug Administration and European Community Drug Regulation Authorities.

Krishna said Bharat Biotech was set up with the financial assistance from IDBI Venture Capital, which contributed Rs 5.5 crore, the Technology Development Board under the Department of Science and Technology, which loaned Rs 3.25 crore and a Rs 50-lakh loan by the Centre for Technology Development of the USAID, he said.

BBIL would work towards alternative remedies for diseases endemic to the Asian region and emphasise on developing next generation vaccines and drugs through original recombinant DNA research, especially in areas such as cardiac, rabies and malaria, he said.

The company has also tied up with the Indian Institute of Biotechnology, New Delhi to develop insulin products, he said, adding that the company was also setting up an R&D laboratory, which would be ready by the year-end. Secretary to the TDB, S B Krishnan, director of NIMS, Kakarla Subba Rao also spoke on the occasion.