Bio E first co to make shot for Japanese encephalitis

Vaccine major Biological E is all set to market indigenously developed vaccine to prevent Japanese encephalitis (JE), making it the first local company to come out with a vaccine against the viral disease.

The government has so far being importing vaccine, mostly from China.

“We will sell the vaccine in the private market and also wait for the government to start procuring from us. We will price the vaccine at Rs 985 for 0.5 ml dose. However, the private market for JE vaccine is still untested since there has been no effort by any company to sell such a vaccine in the country,” Mahima Datla, senior vice-president, Biological E, said.

The Hyderabad-based company has entered into a pact with the Austrian vaccine major Intercell for the technology to develop the vaccine. It has also signed a deal with Novartis to market the vaccine in the global markets, including Europe and the US.

“We have been working on the vaccine for over seven years now. Intercell has been successfully marketing the vaccine and there are enough studies conducted on the vaccine to test the efficacy. Our JE vaccine, branded as Jeev, is an inactivated vaccine and is more efficient than any other variant,” she said.

Though no specific private market data is available, the company is targeting about 33 crore population in the country living in the endemic areas and expects to tap at least 10% of it.

“We hope to sell a few million vaccine doses. We have a capacity to manufacture about 10 million doses as of now and can ramp it up as and when required. We are also eyeing pre-qualification by the World Health Organisation for expanding the market,” Datla said.

JE is a deadly viral disease afflicting major areas around the world and is the leading case of acute encephalitic syndrome (AES). About 8,000 confirmed cases were recorded in India in 2011, resulting in over 1,100 deaths.

JE has a high mortality rate of up to 40% and high morbidity where up to 50% of survivors end up with physical and mental disabilities. There is no specific treatment available for JE and vaccination is believed to be the most effective weapon.

“There has been a practice of vaccinating people only after it is detected in some parts of the country. We are working on creating the awareness to take the vaccine as prevention. Our market, too, is linked to the way the awareness is created across the country,” she said.