Serum Institute of India (SII) shipped its first set of R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccines to Africa from its facility in Pune. The vaccine has been developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford and Novavax, a US biotech company.The R21/Matrix-M vaccine is the second malaria vaccine authorised for use in children in malaria-endemic regions. US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti and CEO of SII Adar Poonawalla flagged off the first consignment to the Central African Republic on Monday.Till now, SII has manufactured 25 million doses with a capacity to scale up to 100 million doses annually, Poonawalla said. “We are giving this vaccine at a very affordable price so that it is widely available and accessible throughout the African and other low and middle-income countries,” Poonawalla stated.
“This is a vaccine for malaria for the African continent. This vaccine is not for India as it is against a parasite that you find in Africa,” Poonawalla said. It has been developed in partnership with the University of Oxford, Novavax and the US government support, he said. It has taken the company seven to eight years to develop the vaccine. Apart from manufacturing the vaccines, Serum Institute also fully funded Phase III trials of the vaccine, he added.
Poonawalla stated that SII is also conducting trials on dengue vaccines along with the NIH, and a vaccine for dengue could be expected in India within three years. The dengue vaccine against four strains is in the third round of clinical trials.The distribution of the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine across the African region marks a significant step in the global fight against malaria, US Ambassador Garcetti said. This is not a money-making vaccine but a life-saving vaccine, he emphasised. “One child dies every single minute in Africa of malaria,” he pointed out.
“The quality, affordable vaccines produced through this partnership between Novavax and SII will prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths every year across the globe,” Garcetti said.Mehreen Datoo, associate fellow and clinical lecturer in infectious diseases at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, and Silvia Taylor, executive vice president, chief corporate affairs and advocacy officer at Novavax, were present at the flag-off.Dr. Umesh Shaligram, executive director of R&D at SII, said this was a significant step towards a world free from the burden of malaria.
The R21/Matrix-M vaccine received a WHO recommendation for use in children last October, followed by the announcement of the high efficacy of its Phase 3 trial data results this year.The R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine, developed through collaboration between the Jenner Institute at Oxford University and SII, leverages Novavax’s saponin-based adjuvant technology. It received support from the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, the Wellcome Trust, and the European Investment Bank.
