Diarrhoea: First made-in-India rotavirus vaccine to cost Rs 54

An indigenous Rs 54 vaccine to treat rotavirus diarrhoea was unveiled on Tuesday

An indigenous Rs 54 vaccine to treat rotavirus diarrhoea was unveiled on Tuesday.

Rotavirus,which according to a study published in The Lancet on Tuesday is the leading cause of diarrhoea the world over,is responsible for one of every four episodes of diarrhoea in Indian children. An estimated one lakh Indian children die every year of the disease. The new vaccine Rotavac against an endemic strain,has been developed through a first of its kind public private partnership.

Its cost will be a fraction of the existing rotavirus vaccines in the market,manufactured by MNCs. While a full immunisation schedule of three doses now costs Rs 3,000,Rotavac will cost only Rs 150.

The vaccine is comparable to those in the market in safety and efficacy. In our trials where we gave the babies zinc and ORS,it showed a 55-60 per cent efficacy,but that would go up more sick the baby gets. By our estimates,total 25 per cent diarrhoea admissions will be prevented by this vaccine because it also seems to give some amount of herd immunity,that is it prevents transmission of the virus and its efficacy is not affected by the serotype of the virus, said Dr M K Bhan,former secretary,DBT,and principal investigator for the trial.

Data from the trial were presented on Tuesday at the International Symposium on Rotavirus Vaccines for India-The Evidence and the Promise. The clinical results indicate that the vaccine,if licensed,could save the lives of thousands of children each year in India, said DBT Secretary Dr K Vijay Raghavan.

Work on rotavac started in 1985 when the strain was identified from a sick baby at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the partners in the international initiative costing close to Rs 100 crore,including the department of biotechnology,Indian Council of Medical Research,Indian Institute of Science,AIIMS,Stanford University School of Medicine,US National Institutes of Health,US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Bharat Biotech that will eventually market the product at the pre-determined rate.

Rotavirus vaccination is not a part of the universal immunisation programme right now because not only are existing vaccines too expensive but also the Indian vaccine policy does not allow administration of a vaccine in the national programme if it is not made by an Indian company.