Zydus Cadila gets approval to market H1N1 vaccine
POSTED May 14, 2010 - 14:58 | POSTED BY Neharika Sabharwal
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on May 14, 2010 - 15:44
The vaccine will be launched under the brand name of “VaxiFlu-s” and marketed by “Vaxicare”, the Cadila department that focuses on preventives.
"With this, Zydus Cadila will become the first Indian pharma company to launch the vaccine. It will be marketed under the brand name VaxiFlu-S," the company said in a statement.
A little about VaxiFlu-S
VaxiFlu-S is expected to hit the markets by the end of this month and replace the imported Sanofi Pasteur SA’s vaccine for swine flu currently being used in the country.
Based on conventional technology, the vaccine is an egg-based, inactivated vaccine that has been developed at company’s Vaccine Technology Centre in Ahmedabad.
The company has the potential of making 4-5 million VaxiFlu-S doses per annum. The aim of the company is to sell around 2 million in the Indian market in the current financial year.
Pankaj R. Patel, chairman and managing director, Zydus Cadila stated, “With the vaccine in the market soon, we would be better prepared with an affordable therapy and prevent further loss of lives to this infectious disease. The launch of VaxiFlu-S gives thrust to our objective of emerging as a strong player in the area of preventives.”
Some future prospects of Zydus Cadila
Zydus Cadila is already marketing the anti-rabies vaccine and the typhoid vaccine. But with the new vaccine, Cadila has emerged as a major contributor to healthcare technology. This has opened new avenues for the pharmaceutical company in the field of medicine and preventives.
Zydus has established its capabilities in research, development and manufacturing of safe and efficacious vaccines with the manufacture and approval of VaxiFlu-S.
The company plans on investing Rs 500 crore in the next three to four years to develop vaccines against bacterial, viral and protozoal infections.
Update of H1N1 in the nation
According to the latest update of the H1N1 pandemic in India, out of the 1,39,466 cases tested for flu-like symptoms so far, nearly 23 percent were positive cases of the lethal influenza.
To date, the nation has recorded five percent fatalities, which is higher than the global rate. Fresh cases of swine flu emerged from Pune, Coimbatore and Chennai.
