Sanofi Pasteur readies pipeline of 11 vaccines for RSV, hepatitis A, herpes

Sanofi Pasteur India is working to manufacture 11 vaccines, some of which may come to India soon. The vaccines player, which accounts for 50 per cent of the doses of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) administered to children in India, feels that if optional vaccines such as flu shots are included in large scale public programmes like Ayushman Bharat, it would lead to faster adoption of adult vaccines in India. 

The pipeline includes vaccines for respiratory syndrome virus (RSV), hepatitis A, herpes, new generation meningitis vaccine, a couple of new flu vaccines (targeted for elderly patients), a hexavalent vaccine (Shan6), and a pentavalent vaccine. Vaccines, however, are a high-risk game as less than 6 per cent of them reach the market from the pre-clinical stage. 

Jean-Pierre Baylet, country head for India and cluster head South Asia, said the company had invested Rs40 billion in the vaccines business in India in the recent years, and was using its Indian team to build innovative vaccines for the global market. 

Sanofi had acquired Shantha Biotechnics in 2009, which makes vaccines for the company in India. It exported vaccines worth Rs 2.95 billion in 2017 to 35 countries, the major ones being Shan5 (a pentavalent vaccine), Shanchol (cholera) and ShanIPV (polio). 

Shantha has developed a cholera vaccine, Shanchol, one of the very few cholera (a bacterial disease that causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration) available in the world. The vaccine received approval from the World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier this year, and Sanofi is now in talks with the governments (both at the Central and state levels) to accommodate it in the Universal Immunisation Programme. 

The Shantha team is working on developing the next-generation meningitis vaccine for the global market. 

Baylet feels that if optional vaccines (those that are not a part of the Universal Immunisation Programme) are made a part of the Ayushman Bharat (Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana), adoption rate for adult vaccines will rise rapidly. "India had a hundred thousand cases of flu last year. It would be great to see optional vaccines such as these being included in the Ayushman Bharat scheme," Baylet said. 

If the insurance cover for the programme is extended to cover vaccines, it may lead to higher adoption of vaccination in India. 

Off late, Sanofi's Hexaxim (a ready-to-use fully liquid vaccine that provides protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, haemophilus influenza B, and hepatitis B) has been a fast-growing product from the Sanofi portfolio, said analysts. 

“It has clocked over 50 per cent growth rate year on year since it was launched in late 2016,” said an analyst. Sanofi's vaccine business has clocked a 6.9 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between June 2014 and June 2018, according to ICICI Direct Research.

India plans

• Company has invested Rs40 billion in vaccines business in India
• Vaccine business has clocked 6.9% CAGR between June 2014 and June 2018
• The company is developing vaccines for respiratory syndrome virus, herpes, hepatitis A, etc
• It acquired Shantha Biotechnics in 2009
• Shantha, which developed cholera vaccine Shanchol, is now manufacturing vaccines for the global market
• Sanofi's Hexaxim vaccine has seen rapid growth in India since launch