Date:02/11/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/11/02/stories/2004110202391900.htm

Back Indigenous rabies vaccine launched in AP

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , Nov. 1

SERUM Institute of India Ltd, a leading manufacturer of vaccines, has launched India's first Human Diploid Cell (HDC) rabies vaccine in the Andhra Pradesh market.

HDC vaccine, regarded globally as `gold standard' in rabies vaccines, is tissue culture vaccine (the technique of making body tissue grow in a medium outside the organism) that is stated to be more effective than others in that class.

Mr Chandrababu, Director (Sales) of the institute, said the vaccine, Rabivax, was priced at Rs 293, far cheaper than the imported vaccine. At the pre-launch press conference here on Monday, he said, India suffered most with the dreaded disease that killed nearly 20,000 people every year. "As many as 17.4 million (dog) bites are reported in the country, children constituting 35-40 per cent of it," he said.

Dr Hitt Sharma, Director (Medical), said the major advantage was that even people who were allergic to vaccine components could take the vaccine. It was free of antibiotics like Neomycin, Streptomycin, Kanamycin and Polymyxin-B that didn't suit some people. People who were allergic to egg proteins and avian proteins could also take this vaccine.

The Rs 500-crore company planned to launch a combination vaccine, comprising the rabies vaccine with DPT (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis).