 "Adar Poonawalla, CEO, SII")
India began work on developing an Mpox vaccine in mid-2022.
Serum Institute of India (SII) said on Tuesday that it expects to have ‘positive news’ on the development of an indigenous Mpox vaccine within a year.
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, said: “In view of the global health emergency declared due to the Mpox outbreak, Serum Institute of India is currently working on developing a vaccine for this disease to cater to millions of lives that might be at risk. Hopefully, with the ongoing progress, we will have more updates and positive news to share within a year’s time.”
Mpox cases have been confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen African countries, and a new form of the virus is spreading. Vaccines for the disease are in short supply.
According to global news agencies, Congo will receive the first vaccine doses to address its Mpox outbreak next week from the United States. Congo, which has a majority of Mpox cases, currently needs 3 million vaccine doses. The US and Japan have offered to donate vaccines.
The World Health Organization has declared Mpox outbreaks in Africa a global emergency.
Japan-based KM Biologics is one of the manufacturers of an Mpox vaccine. Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic makes another vaccine, called Jynneos, for the disease. Reuters reported that Japan holds a stockpile of the KM Biologics vaccine.
While India has so far not reported any Mpox cases, the Union Health Ministry has issued special instructions to all airports and land border officials to keep a vigil on all arrivals. The ministry’s instructions say that all inbound passengers who show likely symptoms of Mpox disease must be isolated. In Delhi, Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, and Lady Hardinge Hospital will serve as quarantine centres for the patients if cases are reported.
Neighbouring Pakistan has detected the virus in three residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who returned from the UAE.
Mpox is a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms. The disease is usually mild but can be fatal. Two strains are now spreading in Congo — the endemic form of the virus, clade I, and a new offshoot called clade Ib. The virus transmits through close physical contact, including sexual contact, but there is no evidence it spreads easily through the air.
India began work on developing an Mpox vaccine in mid-2022.
Poonawalla had told Business Standard in July 2022 that SII had tied up with Greenlight Biosciences, a US-based company with technology to make mRNA vaccines, for a handful of vaccines, including one for shingles. “We are even looking at doing something on monkeypox with them. It is a technology that still needs some time,” Poonawalla had said.
SII was one of the companies that had submitted an expression of interest (EoI) to collaborate with the ICMR to make the monkeypox vaccine in July-August 2022. ICMR’s National Institute of Virology, Pune, had isolated the monkeypox virus strain in 2022.
ICMR had selected six pharmaceutical firms to make monkeypox vaccines, including Serum Institute of India, Biological E, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Hester Biosciences Ltd, Indian Immunologicals Ltd, and Reliance Life Sciences.
First Published: Aug 20 2024 | 3:17 PM IST
