Panacea Biotec has received Government of India’s (GoI) orders for supply of 345 million doses of Trivalent Oral Polio Vaccines (tOPV) and Bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV) worth Rs.187.61 crore, to be supplied during the period December 2012 till May 2013 to meet the requirements of National Immunisation Days (NIDs) and Supplementary National Immunisation Days (SNIDs).
As per GoI’s orders, Panacea Biotec will supply 125 million doses of tOPV in December 2012 and 70 million doses of tOPV in January 2013 for the National Immunisation Days (NIDs). Panacea Biotec will also supply a total of 150 million doses of bOPV to meet the requirements of Supplementary Immunisation Days (SIDs) – 100 million doses in February 2013 and 50 million doses in May 2013.
Commenting on the development Dr Rajesh Jain, Joint Managing Director, Panacea Biotec said, “We are pleased with this opportunity of supplying OPV vaccines to meet the requirements of NIDs and SIDs programmes. These programmes have played a major role in near eradication of polio in the country. WHO’s global polio eradication initiative has made great progress based on use of oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) with a live, attenuated form of Sabin poliovirus strains. India, once known as the world’s epicentre of polio, has successfully achieved two years polio-free since its last case, recorded on January 13, 2011. In this gigantic task, Panacea Biotec contributed by producing and supplying more than 9.2 billion doses of OPV over two decades (1990-2011).
Jain further said, “In fact, Panacea Biotec was the first to develop monovalent types 1 and 3 oral polio vaccines (mOPV1 & mOPV3) and bivalent (1 + 3) oral polio vaccines (bOPV), which have become the most critical weapons in the arsenal of WHO and the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to prevent the crippling disease. Panacea Biotec has been playing a leadership role in the Vaccine R&D, manufacturing and supply to meet demands of national and international agencies for the developing world. Panacea Biotec continues to be committed to polio eradication programme and its objectives as laid down in Global Polio Eradication Initiative & will do all that is needed and is under its control to support the efforts of global community.”
EP News Bureau – Mumbai