A local biotechnology company will soon start producing antirabies serum for the Philippine government, boosting efforts to curb the growing number of people who die of dog bites.

The World Health Organization reported that rabies is the fifth leading cause of death in the world. There are 400,000 incidence of dog bites recorded every year.

The Bureau of Animal Industry reported that there are around 8 million stray dogs in the Philippines and most are likely rabies-infected.

Danilo Manayaga, president and chief executive officer of Servac Philippines Inc., told the BusinessMirror that a local investor has invested the counterpart fund, finally allowing the company to get a P200-million loan to finance the operation of what could be considered as the country’s first biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant which his company is now putting up in Siniloan, Laguna.

Manayaga said a venture capital has agreed to put up a counterpart fund for the Development Bank of the Philippines to start the project.

Last December President Arroyo witnessed the signing of a memorandum of agreement between Servac Philippines Inc. and Pharmadule AB (PDH) on the construction of a $ 120-million pharmaceutical pilot factory in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, for the manufacture of antirabies vaccine.

PDH is a Swedish company specializing in the design and construction of advanced modular production facilities for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. It has delivered more than 50 facilities to clients, including Merck, Eli Lilly, Genetech, AstraZeneca, Baxter and Pharmacia.

Servac has acquired a majority stake in the first Philippine biopharmaceutical company which has an outsourcing manufacturing contract with the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine of the Department of Health of the Philippines for the production of antirabies vaccines.

The quotation includes the supply and construction of a pharmaceutical plant based on modular fabrication, as well as the supply of technical expertise.

The Servac-PDH contract also involves the turnkey supply of modular equipment for the installation of world-class vaccine-production facility in the Philippines. When completed, the plant is expected to employ more than 100 persons, the press release stated.

According to Manayaga, the serum will be produced using live horses.

Initially, he said 100 horses will be used. The production of the antirabies serum will start in six months.

According to Manayaga, the biopharmaceutical plant in Laguna, will have a full commercial production capacity of 100,000 dose of serum a year, starting in February 2009.