Jaipal Reddy congratulates scientists for developing rotavirus vaccine in India

Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences S. Jaipal Reddy has congratulated the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Bharat Biotech (BBIL) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) for the successful development of the rotavirus vaccine in India.

Addressing scientists from across the globe here, Reddy said. "I would like to congratulate DBT, NIH,PATH and BBIL for the development of the first indigenously developed rotavirus vaccine in India. This is an important scientific breakthrough against rotavirus infection, one of the most severe and lethal infections which is responsible for 100,000 deaths of small children in India every year."

"The clinical results indicate that the vaccine could potentially save thousands of children every year in our country. This was implemented in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in close collaboration with Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta and clinical trials conducted by Society for Applied Sciences (SAS), New Delhi; Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore and KEM Hospital, Pune," he said.

"I am told that the results were announced this morning during this international symposium on "Rotavirus Vaccine for India-The Evidence and the Promise". I am proud that we have demonstrated development of rota viral diarrhoea vaccine that can prevent 40 percent of all diarrhoea cases," he added.

Asserting that India has made significant achievements in vaccine development, Reddy said: "We are globally competitive and several Indian manufacturers are WHO qualified. We also produce 60 percent of the worlds vaccine and account for about 70 percent of the annual United Nations vaccine purchases. The current Indian vaccine market is estimated at around 900 million dollars. It targets 4.6 billion dollars revenue by 2017 and poised to grow at 23 percent during 2012-13."

He further said: "I consider this a true model of successful global partnership between India and USA; involvement of international funding agencies like PATH; scientific experts and appropriate industrial partner; and inter-ministerial involvement with active participation of ICMR, M/o Health and Family welfare."

"I am happy to know that ROTAVAC which is developed under this endeavour will be produced on an affordable cost of 1 dollar per dose against the currently available vaccines developed by pharma MNCs which cost 45 dollar per dose," he added.

India has developed its first vaccine - Rotavac-under public-private partnership.

The indigenous low-cost vaccine, to prevent rotavirus diarrhoea that claims the lives of about 1 lakh children a year, will soon hit the market. Priced at around Rs 54, it will be a boon for developing countries that are fighting the killer virus.