World’s largest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SII) has initiated discussions with potential partners to develop vaccine against monkeypox, reported The Economic Times.
In a conversation with Economic Times, CEO Adar Poonawalla said that although they are talking with partners to develop a vaccine, there is no urgent need as they are assessing the situation first.
Amid the recent monkeypox cases in India, fresh cases have been suspected in many regions of the country including Bihar, Delhi and Telangana. The news flash rapidly after a 34-year-old man from Delhi with no history of foreign travel tested positive for the monkeypox virus.
Further, on July 25, a high-level review of the situation was done by the Directorate General of Health Sciences.
On July 23, World Health Organisation (WHO) declared monkeypox a global emergency indicating an extraordinary event that could spill over into more countries and requires a coordinated response globally.
According to another report by Mint, CEO Poonawalla said if there’s a larger breakout of monkeypox cases in India, his company is willing to import a few million doses of a Danish smallpox vaccine. Notably, smallpox vaccines can be used to treat monkeypox.
He also said that Serum Institute is willing to use its own funds to purchase the Danish smallpox vaccine, manufactured by Bavarian Nordic, to vaccinate people against the monkeypox virus.
Speaking to NDTV, he assured that the vaccine will be made as affordable as possible for consumers to treat monkeypox virus, even though no costs have been decided yet.
Reportedly, the SII is also exploring the developments of a new Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for monkeypox virus. Novavax, an American biotechnology company can fulfil the requirements. However, it could take over a year to make a vaccine, he further added.
“We are talking to Novovax. We really need to see the status of this virus, whether there will be a lot of demand or in three to four months it breaks down,” Poonawalla told NDTV.
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