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: duration.” Not surprising, conventional viral vaccines such as those for rabies has given place to a tissue culture-derived rabies vaccine of higher safety, purity and efficacy, she informs.

According to Ella, recombinant DNA technology makes it eminently possible to produce safe, pure and efficacious vaccines due to identification of the appropriate antigen or subunit of the organism. Hepatitis B vaccine is a classic example of a biotechnology-derived vaccine. Human papilloma virus vaccine is another fine example of a biotech product. The next generation vaccines such as dengue vaccine, yellow fever vaccine, flu vaccine and Japanese encephalitis vaccine will be completely biotech-derived, she adds.

“Conventional vaccines are sort of crude, whereas biotech vaccines produced by recombinant DNA technology are highly defined and more specific with batch-to-batch consistency and lesser side effects,” says Varaprasad Reddy, managing director, Shantha Biotechnics. The company is working on Hepatitis B vaccine, DTP-HepB (tetravalent), DTP-HepB-Hib (pentavalent) and the pipeline is targeted for rotavirus, cholera and typhoid—all based on recombinant DNA technology.

Yet another success story is emerging from Indian Immunologicals. The company is working on human vaccines in rDNA, hepatitis B, measles, DPT, tetanus, among others. Serum Institute of India, which supplies vaccines to over 137 countries across the world, has tied up with Gates Foundation and PATH for accessing testing technology for developing a pneumococcal vaccine.

Biotech vaccine makers are gung ho on joining hands with leading research institutes like National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases, Kolkata, National Institute of Immunology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Central Drug Research Institute, among others, for developing new generation vaccines.

At the same time, there are challenges to the growth and important among them is development of more effective combination vaccines. Combination vaccines can help by minimising the number of visits and follow ups needed for an immunisation schedule. These combination vaccines, however, have not been able to address this issue in emerging markets of Asia and Africa, due to supply shortages and limited capacity available for manufacturing of these vaccines.

Despite the fact that vaccinations save the lives of millions throughout the world each year, there is still a lot that needs to be achieved. The growth potential for combination vaccines is much higher than regular multi-dose vaccines if the manufacturers are able to sort out supply shortages and work more closely with aid agencies and local governments, analysts point out.