Hyderabad: Hyderabad-based vaccine maker Bharat Biotech Ltd (BBL) on Wednesday said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has pre-qualified its typhoid conjugate vaccine.
The new vaccine was found to have given a longer immunity from typhoid than older vaccines and it required fewer doses for childhood immunisation.
The pre-qualification by WHO allows for the sale of the vaccines to UN agencies such as UNICEF and GAVI, which is the vaccine alliance.
Typbar TCV, which got its license for clinical trials after 12 years of research in 2013, is of acceptable standards of quality, safety and efficacy, stated WHO.
Dr Krishna Ella, CMD of Bharat Biotech explained, “When we started this project, typhoid fever was a neglected tropical disease. The development of this conjugate vaccine has taken 14 years but it has proved to be effective. The recognition by WHO paves the way to move it in the market.”
Bharat Biotech, which spent about Rs 150 crores from its own pockets for the vaccine, has recieved $40 million in grants from various universities.
The total burden of typhoid is 11 to 20 million cases globally. There have been 1,28,000 deaths due to typhoid annually. The highest burden of typhoid is due to salmonella typhi. It has been found in the clinical trials that the use of the vaccine could help in curbing the frequent use of antibiotics for treatment of presumed typhoid fever.
