Few lead when treading the unknown terrain. Those who do carve out an entirely new way of life, revolutionising an era and its thinking, providing a solution, not many oculd even dream of. The flamethrowers in the biotech revolution in Andhra Pradesh are currently few, but growing by the day

The evolving field of Biotechnology ahs been few such people and companies, with concepts unheard before. There are at present, only two companies in India, which have successfully commercialised biotech products based on recombinant DNA technologies and both are located in Hyderabad.

Shantha Biotechnics Pvt. Ltd.,
founded in 1993 by K Varaprasad Reddy.

Bharat Biotech International Ltd.,
was set up by Dr. Krishna Ella, a scientist - entrepreneur with the aim of pursuing pioneering research in health care through genetic engineering and of producing health care products for diseases endemic to India and the South East Asian Region.

It was a pioneer in producing a Hepatitis-B vaccine based on recombinant DNA technology under the brand name of Revac-B. It is the first vaccine in the world to be produced without caesium chloride, a toxic metal. It is the second largest biotech facility for the manufacture of Hepatitis B in the world with a capacity of 100 million doses per annum. It has a state-of-the-art multi-product contract manufacturing, formulation and filling plant for biotechnology products.

The company's current research activities cover a third generation Hepatitis-B vaccine in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science, Streptokinase, human insulin and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF). The company won the National Award in 1999 for Best R&D efforts from Government of India. It is the largest biotech facility in India confirming to the standards of WHO, USFDA and UKMCA.