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Shantha Biotech rolls out Shan5 vaccine in India
Shantha Biotechnics Limited, now owned by Paris-based Sanofi, on Monday said it launched Shan5, its paediatric pentavalent vaccine, in Indian market.
The pentavalent vaccine protects children from five diseases including diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hib and hepatitis B.
Hyderabad: Shantha Biotechnics Limited, now owned by Paris-based Sanofi, on Monday said it launched Shan5, its paediatric pentavalent vaccine, in Indian market. However, the company did not reveal pricing details of the vaccine.
Developed and produced in the city by the vaccine maker, Shan5 is a fully liquid five-in-one convenient, safe and high quality vaccine that provides effective protection to children from six weeks of age against five diseases - diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hib and hepatitis B.
"A significant number of babies born every year in India do not have access to modern vaccination programmes. The launch of Shan5 in India means that 27 million babies born annually in India will have access to vaccination, to protect them from five potentially deadly diseases," Harish Iyer, CEO, Shantha Biotech.
By launching Shan5, Shantha will be contributing to filling the immunisation gap for the benefit of babies and their parents, he added.
The company launched the high-quality and multi-use vaccine in the country nearly seven months after it received prequalification status from the World Health Organization (WHO) in April 2014. “The prequalification gives many more children in India access to the latest 5-in-1 vaccine. Further, the prequalification also helps Shan5 secure the supply of pentavalent combination vaccines in over 50 emerging and low-income countries,” the company said in a statement. With the first doses are being made available now, the company has drawn up different plans to respond to needs such as public vaccination programmes and vaccination in private practice across the country.
Founded by Dr K I Varaprasad Reddy in 1993, Shantha Biotech has grown into a fully-integrated biotechnology company involved in research & development (R&D), manufacturing and marketing of vaccines. Sanofi Pasteur Holding, the vaccine division of Sanofi S.A., had acquired the company in 2009.
The pentavalent Shan5 is the fifth vaccine the company is producing at its facilities in the city. Prior to this, it had four vaccines including Shanchol cholera vaccine in its production portfolio. The company says Shan5 is the first vaccine that it has developed jointly with the parent Sanofi Pasteur. Both the companies are now working on a new pediatric combination vaccine based on Shan5 that will incorporate Sanofi Pasteur’s Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) in order to secure polio eradication.
