EU, India join hands to fight influenza

New Delhi, August 28

The European Union and India on Tuesday announced a joint euro 30 million project to develop a next generation influenza vaccine.

The (Rs 240-crore) project involves pledging of euro 15 million each by the EU and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, and will roll out as part of EU’s research and innovation call under an ongoing plan called “Horizon 2020”.

The idea is to develop cost-effective and affordable influenza vaccine rapidly without compromising quality. The call was given on Tuesday in the presence of Renu Swarup, Secretary, Biotechnology, India, and Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the European Union to India.

“The joint call is another demonstration of the increased cooperation between the EU and India as committed by the leaders during the summit in October 2017. In engaging jointly on this topic, India and the EU are contributing to an important global public health challenge,” Kozlowski said. — TNS