The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) set up Indian Immunologicals Ltd. (IIL) in 1982 with the objective of making Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine available to farmers at an affordable price. The technology for FMD vaccine manufacture was obtained from M/s. Wellcome Foundation Limited, United Kingdom. The plant in Hyderabad today has a capacity to make 80 million trivalent doses of FMD vaccine. Following the successful introduction of Foot &Mouth Disease Vaccine-Raksha, IIL launched the tissue culture vaccine "Raksharab" in 1989. This was the first Indian tissue culture vaccine in the market. Subsequently IIL has developed many biologicals through its own R&D efforts and launched several vaccines in the Indian market at affordable prices. IIL is today the fifth largest animal health player in the Indian market and the market leader in veterinary biologicals in India. It operates one of the largest plants in the world for veterinary vaccines and is WHO-GMP and ISO-9001 certified. IIL exports its products to several countries and exports contributed substantially to the company\\\'s turnover.
IIL pursues not only the mandate of NDDB to provide products and services to enhance the quality of livestock in the country but also use its technological capabilities to the benefit of the people of India. IIL strongly believes that its mission of "Biotechnology in healthcare made affordable and accessible" can be actively pursued only with a sound technology base in modern biotechnology. IIL operates a facility in Ooty to manufacture the Vero cell culture rabies vaccine for use in human beings. This plant was set up in 1998 at the specific request of the Government of India so that our country can phase out use of the older and unsafe sheep brain vaccine (also termed nerve tissue vaccine - NTV)) with the modern tissue culture vaccine. IIL sells the product under the brand name "Abhayrab" through its network of "Abhayclinics".
IIL is the second company in the world to launch the purified Vero cell rabies vaccine (PVRV). The vaccine is sold at very economical price when compared to the brands of multinational companies. A new vaccine facility in Hyderabad has been setup to manufacture various other human vaccines such as Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Recombinant Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A and Measles.
