PremiumWhile writing to the Union health ministry, Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs of Serum Institute of India (SII) confirmed the supply of 1 crore doses of qHPV vaccine,CERVAVAC, by December this year under the National Vaccination Programme
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As the threat of cervical cancer looms upon women, dominantly of the age group 14-55 years, the Serum Institute of India is fully prepared to supply 1 crore doses of its highly efficient Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) against cervical cancer, by this year-end, according to a PTI report.
While writing to the Union health ministry, Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Serum Institute of India confirmed the supply of 1 crore doses of qHPV vaccine by December this year under the National Vaccination Programme.
After confirming the vaccine supply, Prakash also mentioned in his letter the company's commitment to providing vaccines at an affordable rate to the public, they said.
It is worth noting that SII's qHPV vaccine got market authorisation from the Drugs Controller General of India(DCGI) on 12 July.
The importance of the vaccine can be understood by the short period in which it was tested, then approved, and then prepared for mass manufacturing.
The phase 2/3 clinical trial of the vaccine has been completed with the support of the Department of Biotechnology.
After examining the clinical trial data of the qHPV, the government advisory panel National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) is also learned to have also approved the vaccine.
It was informed in the application that the qHPV vaccine CERVAVAC has evoked a robust antibody response that is around 1000 times more than the baseline against all targeted HPV types vaccine in all dose and age groups.
The letter took note of the grave situation of cervical cancer in India. It is said that lakhs of women suffer from cervical cancer every year. The ratio of cervical cancer among women is much higher than all other types of cancer in women in India. Not only this, but the death ratio is also very high.Cervical cancer in India ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women aged between 15 and 44 years.
"Also, it is noteworthy that presently, our country is fully dependent on foreign manufacturers for the HPV vaccine. In line with the philosophy of our group and under the leadership of our CEO, Dr. Adar C Poonawalla, it has always been our endeavour to make available high-quality 'Made in India' vaccines at an affordable price for the people of our country and the world at large," Singh had stated in the application.
With inputs from PTI