Sanofi affiliate to supply 37 million vaccines
pharmafile | March 17, 2015 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | GAVI, Sanofi, Sanofi Pasteur, Shantha Biotechnics, shan5, vaccines
Sanofi’s vaccines division Sanofi Pasteur has confirmed its affiliate Shantha Biotechnics in India has delivered the first 400,000 doses of its vaccine to support the immunisation of children in GAVI-supported countries.
The biotech firm’s vaccine Shan5 will be rolled out to children in the cities of Gwalior and Jabalpur, both in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India – which will enable up to 10 million receive protection from five pediatric diseases.
“This supply illustrates how Shantha and Sanofi Pasteur meet public health needs”, says Olivier Charmeil, Sanofi Pasteur president and chief executive. “We are proud to contribute to making high-quality vaccines accessible to more children in developing countries.”
Shan5 is a liquid five-in-one vaccine shot that provides protection for children from 6 weeks of age against five diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Hib and hepatitis B (DTP – HepB – Hib).
It has been developed and is produced at Shantha’s manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, and received marketing authorisation in India during March last year.
A month later it was prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO), and this status is based on a review of a data sets related to the process and the product characteristics, as well as on a positive recommendation of WHO’s auditors following a site inspection of Shantha’s manufacturing sites.
“We are pleased to have obtained this first tender award since Shan5 was registered and WHO-prequalified in April 2014”, says Dr Harish Iyer, chief executive of Shantha.
“As one of the strategic manufacturing platforms for Sanofi Pasteur, Shantha is delivering on its commitment to serve Indian health needs and provide access in underserved vaccine markets.”
As part of a pledge to support developing countries Sanofi Pasteur has previously committed to keeping its prices discounted until the end of 2018, and has said it will expand production of its yellow fever vaccine to address ‘chronic shortages’.
Brett Wells
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