3 Jul 2013

Single vaccine to prevent millions of death.

In this era of unprecedented growth and development, when surveys on child mortality rate reveal that millions of children under the age of five have been dying every year because of those diseases which could be avoided before their advent, it startles me. We belong to that nation where when a child takes birth, parents, especially mothers, go to extremes to keep their child away from all kind of adversities. Then, where parents are lagging behind? The answer to this imperative question is “vaccination”. Thousands of parents to children under the age of five is the core reason behind the high mortality rate of children in India as they do not participate in the vaccination programme. 5 life-threatening diseases like Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Hib could be prevented by the use of  “Pentavalent Vaccine”. Parents need to understand that holistic development of a child solely depends on their health which cannot be compromised. Therefore, for the sound growth and development of children during foundation years as well as in the future, parents are urged to provide pentavalent vaccine to their children. Every child must be vaccinated.

Dr. Kusha Pant
(Specialization in Human Development and Family Studies)

2 Jul 2013

Hyderabad-Based Pharma Firm to Supply Pentavalent Vaccines to Egypt

Hyderabad-based bio-pharmaceutical firm Biological E Ltd revealed that it will be supplying Egypt with pentavalent vaccines that will provide protection against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type B in a single dose. The six-decade old Hyderabad-based life sciences firm develops, manufactures and markets innovative vaccines and biologics for healthcare needs in India and overseas.

Egypt consumes about eight million doses of liquid pentavalent vaccine every year to treat various diseases.  Egyptian Health Minister Mohamed Mostafa Hamed has endorsed the agreement. "Since the World Health Organisation (WHO) pre-qualified our pentavalent vaccine in 2012, we started exporting the product to many countries the world over," Mantena said.

The company recently entered into a five-year pact with Gavi for its joint venture with the British pharma major GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) plc to develop and commercialise the IPV (inactivated polio vaccine) containing Hexavalent vaccine. Gavi, formerly the global alliance for vaccines and immunisation, is a public-private global health partnership to save children by increasing access to immunisation. The company also has strategic partnerships with international biotech and pharma firms and research institutes to develop new vaccines for domestic and export markets.  As a holding company for biological products and vaccines in Egypt, Vacsera is the only producer of vaccines and sera (serum) in West Asia and Africa and one of the main blood banks in the region.