Hyderabad, Feb 24 (IANS): Ukraine's Health Minister Maksym Stepanov on Wednesday visited Bharat Biotech's manufacturing facility here and held discussions on supplies of the company's Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin for his country.

A three-member led by the minister took a tour of the world-class Bio-Safety Level 3 manufacturing facility of Bharat Biotech, which has developed India's first indigenous vaccine for Covid-19.

The delegation, that included Deputy Health Minister Igor Ivashchenko, and Ukraine Embassy's Head of Trade and Economic Department Ivan Konovalov had discussions with Bharat Biotech's leadership to secure the supplies of Covaxin to Ukraine.

Bharat Biotech International Limited Chairman & Managing Director Dr Krishna Ella said it was privilege to host the Health Minister from Ukraine "at our state-of-the-art facility and showcase our world-class capabilities in the manufacture and supply of vaccines and research and product development".

"We discussed potential timelines for the supply of Covaxin to Ukraine on a priority and the prospects of a partnership for our BBV 154 intranasal vaccine. There is a lot of interest in Covaxin worldwide," he said.

Stepanov said that his nation and India have a long history of cooperation in various fields. "We look forward to benefiting from India's vast capability in the manufacture of vaccines to effectively combat the Covid-19 pandemic at home. We had a very good interaction with the team at Bharat Biotech and it was a great experience to take a tour of the facility and inspect its impressive manufacturing capabilities. We will soon firm up the Covaxin delivery plan for the mass vaccination of our people, and further strengthen our partnership on intranasal vaccine supplies after initial results from its phase 1 trials," he said.

Bharat Biotech is India's leading vaccines and bio-therapeutics manufacturer. It has more than 145 global patents, a wide product portfolio of more than 16 vaccines, four bio-therapeutics, registrations in more than 123 countries and WHO Pre-qualifications.

Located in Hyderabad's Genome Valley, the hub for the global biotech industry, Bharat Biotech has delivered more than 4 billion doses of various vaccines around the world till now. It continues to lead innovation and has developed vaccines for influenza H1N1, rotavirus, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, chikungunya, zika and the world's first tetanus-toxoid conjugated vaccine for typhoid.