Adar Poonawalla-led SII launches first Made-in-India HPV vax

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of vaccine maker Serum Institute of India, announced the launch of the first home-made HPV vaccine. The launch took place in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, Adar Poonawalla, and Director of Government & Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India, Prakash K Singh.

“On the occasion of India’s National Girl Child Day and Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, @SerumInstIndia is pleased to launch the first made-in-India HPV vaccine by the hands of our Hon’ble Home Minister Shri @AmitShah Ji. @PrakashKsingh7,” tweeted Adar Poonawalla.

Poonawalla, earlier at the World Economic Forum 2023 in Davos, said that the company spent about six to seven years to develop the HPV vaccine. “I’m really excited that after about six to seven years of development, we will launch the HPV vaccine, which is a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer in women,” he had said during the event.

He also said that the HPV vaccine will be an affordable one and will be rolled out in high capacity to overcome existing market shortages.

The HPV or human papillomavirus vaccines prevent infection by certain types of human papillomavirus. These HPV vaccines protect against HPV types that cause the greatest risk of cervical cancer.

The HPV vaccine – the Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine ‘CERVAVAC’ – for the prevention of cervical cancer was announced by Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State of the Ministry of Science and Technology & Earth Sciences in September last year.

The qHPV CERVAVAC is the outcome of the partnership between Serum Institute, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Business Today