There will be a minimum production capacity of 600 million doses in 2022

India's Biological E. Limited has announced a licensing agreement with Canadian company Providence Therapeutics Holdings to manufacture its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in India.

Providence will sell up to 30 million doses of its proprietary messenger RNA vaccine, PTX-COVID19-B, Biological E said in a statement on Tuesday.

It will also provide the necessary technology transfer for Biological E to manufacture mRNA vaccines in India, with a minimum production capacity of 600 million doses in 2022 and a target capacity of 1 billion doses.

According to the statement, Biological E will be responsible for all clinical development and regulatory activities for the mRNA vaccine in India and other jurisdictions licensed by Biological E.

“This initiative is an important commitment by a Canada-based company to help India and other nations vaccinate their citizens against COVID19. Providence was founded to serve patients, and this commitment by Biological E allows us to achieve that essential goal,” indicated Brad Sorenson, CEO of Providence.

“The mRNA platform has emerged as the front runner in delivering the first vaccines for emergency use to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Biological E. is very pleased to be able to work with Providence on its promising mRNA vaccine candidate. We hope to provide India and other countries yet another option to ramp up their efforts towards achieving herd immunity against COVID-19,” said Mahima Datla, Managing Director of Biological E Limited.

The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

The Hyderabad-bases Biological E. also has a separate deal to produce about 600 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) COVID-19 shot annually.

Providence is a leading Canadian clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering mRNA therapeutics and vaccines.