Panacea Bio Inks Tech Pact With Italian Firm

Panacea Biotech has signed a technology transfer pact with Chiron, an Italian company for the manufacture of an influenza vaccine. The company also plans to launch a slew of 'value added' vaccines in the market over the next few years in order to maintain it's market share.

The agreement with Chiron is a five-year contract to source the raw material to manufacture the vaccine exclusively from them. The deal can be renewed at the end of the period, said Rajesh Jain, Director, Panacea Biotec.

The company will import the 'bulk' or the raw material for manufacture of the haemophilus influenza type B (HiB) vaccine and manufacture the finished product in the country. The terms of the agreement with Chiron allows Panacea to export the vaccine.

The HiB will be used to produce Enivac-Penta, a three in one vaccine, he said. "This will be a three in one vaccine which will include the vaccines for diphtheria, hepatitis B and influenza. While the HiB will be sourced from Chiron, the diphtheria vaccine is sourced from Indonesia while the hepatitis B vaccine is manufactured by Panacea," Jain said.

The company already has a polio vaccine and a hepatitis B vaccine in the market. Enivac -Tetra, a vaccine for diphtheria and hepatitis B is in the pipeline and expected to be launched fairly soon. The company is also obtaining regulatory approvals for a Japanese encephalitis vaccine and pnemococcal vaccine.

Introduction of Enivac-Penta is part of the company's strategy to introduce value-added products in the vaccine market in order to maintain it's market share. "The new pentavalent vaccine, which will be introduced sometime in 2002, is a differentiated product. It will do away with the need to go in for three different injections and will also work out cheaper than the individual shots," Jain said.

Forty five per cent of the company's turnover comes from the vaccine segment alone. The company also plans to focus it's export efforts for Enivac-Penta in the CIS countries, South East Asia and Africa. Contribution of exports to the company's turnover is expected to go up from the 10 per cent to 20 per cent.