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India's Serum looks beyond COVID with new vaccines for malaria, dengue

India's Serum looks beyond COVID with new vaccines for malaria, dengue


COVID with new vaccines for malaria, dengue

In the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, an elderly couple sits outside a vaccination room at Max Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi, India, on March 17, 2021, waiting for their turn. (Image: Adnan Abidi/RETERS)

PUNE: The CEO of Serum Institute of India, the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, stated that the company has strengthened its manufacturing in front of the introduction of vaccines against diseases like dengue and malaria over the next few years by repurposing facilities used to develop COVID-19 immunizations.

In an interview, CEO Adar Poonawalla stated that the business is utilizing those facilities to produce its newer shots, which it thinks would increase total output by 2.5 billion doses, while COVID manufacturing is being reduced as demand declines.

Both the protein-based COVID shots made by Novavax and the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca under the brand name Covishield are produced in India by Serum.

During the height of the global health crisis, it made a $2 billion investment to increase production.

As of right now, the corporation sells roughly 1.5 billion vaccination doses annually, with a potential for up to 4 billion doses to be produced.

"And this is also important because if there is a pandemic again in the future, we can vaccinate the whole of India in a matter of three months, three to four months," added Poonawalla.

He stated that the corporation is in talks with governments and other nations to use those facilities in the event of future outbreaks, but he did not elaborate.

According to Poonawalla, Serum can produce 100 million doses of its malaria vaccine, and depending on demand, it may be able to increase production even higher. In advance of its introduction in the upcoming months, it has already generated 25 million doses.

More than half a million people, mostly small children in sub-Saharan Africa, still die from the old disease spread by mosquitoes every year.

Poonawalla stated that rather than entering into technology transfer agreements, Serum would concentrate on exporting its vaccines, like as the malaria shot, to other nations.

Additionally, serum is evaluating a single dose vaccination for dengue, another unpleasant, often fatal disease spread by mosquitoes, which it created based on studies from the US National Institutes of Health.

In India, the vaccine is undergoing early to mid-stage studies. According to the CEO, the company plans to wrap up late-stage trials within the next three years.

Takeda Pharmaceutical of Japan also produces a dengue injection that is accessible in Argentina, Brazil, and other countries. Brazil is currently facing a severe outbreak and a shortage of vaccine. Other countries that carry the shot include Indonesia, Thailand, and Argentina.

Vaccines against the illness are also being developed by other businesses, like Indian Immunologicals.


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