Panacea Biotec collaborates with Serum Institute of India

The company signs two long term agreements with Serum Institute of India

Panacea Biotec has announced the collaboration with signing of two long term agreements with Serum Institute of India (SII) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Bilthovan Biologicals B.V. (BBIO). Under the collaboration SII is entitled to manufacture and sell fully liquid Whole cell Pertussis (wP) and Salk based Injectable Polio Vaccine (IPV) based Hexavalent vaccine (DTwP-HepB-Hib-IPV) developed and commercialised by Panacea Biotec, a first of its kind in this category.

Serum Institute of India will ensure supply of IPV bulk to Panacea Biotec, an important constituent of the Hexavalent vaccine, from its wholly owned subsidiary BBIO, a bioengineering and pharmaceutical company, registered in The Netherlands having technology and expertise for making the IPV, earlier possessed by only 3 other vaccine manufacturers in the World.

In next two years both SII and PBL will work together to get this wP-IPV based Hexavalent Vaccine introduced in the National Immunization Program of Government of India and developing countries by working closely with key stakeholders including but not limited to National Governments, World Health Organization (WHO), Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunization (GAVI), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and other United Nation Agencies, etc.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Rajesh Jain, Joint Managing Director, Panacea Biotec said that millions of children in developing countries with an annual birth cohort of approx. 121 Million will get an easy access to a fully liquid Hexavalent vaccine containing six very important antigens to protect against six dreaded diseases i.e. Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenza type B and Polio. Dr Jain added that it is the first fully liquid wP-IPV based hexavalent vaccine in the World which Panacea Biotec has developed making India proud under Government of India’s Make in India Program and currently being marketed in India under brand name EasySix.

WHO prequalified IPV is essential to successfully eradicating Polio across the globe, an effort that has already cost $ 20 Billion worldwide. There is a Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in place and Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative (GAVI) has been supporting the programme since 2013 having allocated $ 430 Million till 2018 with an additional donor pledge of $ 23 Million for 2019. At present GAVI is evaluating IPV under Vaccine Investment Strategy for Global Public Good.

Adar C. Poonawalla, CEO and Executive Director, Serum Institute of India, says, “It is an historic deal where in two major vaccine Companies in India have come forward to join hands to address unmet needs of both Private & Public Market globally. With the convenience of ‘Six in one’ it has potential of over 250 million doses in next 3-4 years with a market size of over $1.25 Billion annually.”

R K Suri, Senior Advisor, who orchestrated the mega deal between two big Vaccine players says, “It marks beginning of a new Era in vaccine landscape and heralds a new business model, ‘Collaborate yet Compete!’.”