After having produced anti-rabies vaccine for over a century, the Pasteur Institute of India (PII), Coonoor, is likely to used to produce recently introduced “pentavalent vaccine”, a vaccine having antigens of five diseases.
The vaccine has so far been introduced in Kerala and Tamil Nadu with the pentavalent formulation being supplied by GAVI at the rate of $2.1 per dose.
However, with the government planning to spread the programme to other states, they are considering to put safeguards by making it possible to produce the vaccine in the government sector unit so that the cost of the vaccine can go further down.
The government, which is likely to revive Pasteur Institute of India Coonoor by approving about `120 crores for making the unit GMP complaint, will also take up the issue of making the unit compatible to producing pentavalent vaccine.
The licence of PII Coonoor was cancelled in 2008 after the World Health Organisation (WHO) found it non compliant with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards.
“The discussions regarding the money to be given for reviving the unit are on with the Planning Commission and the finance ministry. After which will work out the efficacy and benefit that we have if the existing unit is also used for producing pentavalent vaccines,” a senior official in the ministry said.
The next plan of the government is to make integrated vaccine complex in Chennai, a multiple unit for producing all the vaccines, including the pentavalent vaccine.
“This will help prices of the vaccines going down immensely,” added the official.