First Indigenous H1N1 Vaccine against Swine Flu Introduced in India
First Indigenous H1N1 vaccine against swine flue has been introduced in India. Till now, the country was depended on the imported vaccine against the disease. The disease has killed over 1500 people in less than a year.
Swine Flu disease has taken over 18,000 lives globally and more than 1,000 in the country. India was earlier importing the vaccine from French company, Sanofi Pasteurs.
According to the Pankaj Patel who is the CMD in Cadilla said, “The vaccine has been clinically tested on 269 people. Around 4.5 lakh doses will be available in the market in the first batch.”
An online news portal, economictimes.indiatimes.com quotes a statement of health minister also, “the H1N1 virus had shown a decline in the country, there might be a spurt in cases in the monsoon and winter seasons.”
According to the official statement, “The firm has successfully completed Phase two and three clinical trials conducted on 203 individuals in the age group of 18-60 years and 66 individuals of age more than 60 years.”
Further the news portal writes, “Cadila is the first company to hit the market with its product. The company has used the influenza strains as recommended by WHO to develop the vaccine.”
About the import H1N1 vaccine, the news portal writes, “About 1.5 million doses of this vaccine were allowed to be imported in the country which were used for immunisation of health workers, who come in direct contact with the patients.”
About the development of Indigenous H1N1 vaccine against swine flue, the news portal writes, “Four Indian companies-Cadila Healthcare of Ahmedabad, Serum Institute of India, Pune, and New Delhi-based Bharat Biotec and Panacea Biotec-were working to develop vaccine in the country.”
Finally, the Indigenous H1N1 vaccine against swine flue hit Indian market. Now, there is no need to import H1N1 vaccine from outside in India.
