Hyderabad, Oct. 19: The Children's Vaccine Program of the US-based Program for Appropriate Technology in Health will be supporting the project to develop an India-specific rotavirus vaccine, launched by several organisations, including Bharat Biotech International Ltd, a biotechnology firm here, company director Krishna M Ella said on saturday. CVP is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Over 125,000 children die each year in India due to the rotavirus, which causes diarrhoea. The researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, AIIMS, Standford University and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US are working to replace a vaccine, Rotashield, which was pulled from the US market in 1999, after it was found that it caused a rare bowel obstruction.

Ella said BBIL plans to launch clinical trials for the rotavirus vaccine, preparing pilot lots of the vaccine for the trials, which will be conducted in New Delhi over the next 2-4 years. The vaccine is expected to be ready for use by the year 2006. The research group, including Prof. M K Bhan from AIIMS, Prof. Durga Rao from IISc, Prof. Harry Greenberg from Standford University and Dr. Roger Glass had their first meeting here, a three-day session which concluded on Saturday.