SSI plans to launch BCG, rabies vaccines soon

Mumbai: In a bid to fully exploit the ever-growing vaccine business in India, Serum Institute of India (SSI) is all set to launch Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and rabies vaccine versions soon. A few batches of the BCG vaccine has already been cleared for marketing by the Central Research Institute, Kasauli, say SII sources.

Presently the BCG vaccine is reportedly facing a severe short supply because the BCG Vaccine Laboratory at Guindy, Chennai, the sole manufacturer of the vaccine in India, is unable to meet the requirements.

Nearly 25 million doses of the BCG vaccine are needed in the country every year. The government-owned BCG Laboratory produces about 2 million doses, and the country is importing about 10-12 million doses per year from UNICEF. The major problem, say industry sources, is of availability. The BCG vaccine comes under the extended immunisation programme and hence the distribution is not uniform.

SII has the capacity to produce 70-80 million doses every year and can meet the entire Indian requirement, the SII sources say. SSI also has plans to produce 5 million doses of tissue culture rabies vaccine.

The sources maintain that field trials have established that SSIs product is superior to the available leading rabies vaccines. SSI uses its newly-built manufacturing facility at Hadapsar, Pune, for large-scale manufacturing of these vaccines.