Pune-based SII trashes 2 million doses of H1N1 vaccine

Pune-based pharmaceutical major, Serum Institute of India (SII), has destroyed about two million doses of intra-nasal vaccine, Nasovac, which was developed to combat influenza-A H1N1, better known as swine flu.

This vaccine was the country’s first indigenously manufactured swine flu vaccine that was developed in a record 11 months and launched inJuly 2010 in response to the pandemic.

The leading vaccine manufacturer had to take the extreme step of destroying its stocks as the market demand for the vaccine plummeted drastically and stocks remained unsold. The production of the vaccine has also been drastically cut due to the retraction of the epidemic.

Speaking to DNA, Serum Institute’s owner and executive director, Adar Poonawalla said,“We destroyed the existing stock of the vaccine as its expiry date was fastapproaching.’’

According to company officials, since October last year, Nasovac did not find takers in the market, leading to stockpiling of the vaccine. Hence, the stock remained unsold and SII had to trash the entire stock.

The vaccine’s family pack of five doses was launched at Rs790 per pack and single dose pack at Rs190. The initial demand for the vaccine was positive, but in subsequent months, as incidents of swine flu waned, the demand dropped substantially.
“People do not understand that preventive dosage is also necessary before the actual start of the season of epidemic. We will continue production of the vaccine, but in a very low quantity,’’ Poonawalla said.

Swine flu had created havoc across the globe in 2009 and in India, Pune was the epicentre of the infection after it broke out in May 2009.

Till July last year over 1,624 lab-confirmed fatal swine flu cases were reported in the country, including 495 in Maharashtra. Of the 1.45 lakh people who tested for influenza-A H1N1 in government and private laboratories across the country, 33,783 tested positive.
The virus led to more than 18,000 deaths worldwide in 2010. The World Health Organisation declared the swine flu pandemic as officially over in August 2010.