Imported swine flu vaccine will reach India in February

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Imported swine flu vaccine will reach India in February

January 20th, 2010 - 12:24 am ICT by IANS

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Imported swine flu vaccine will finally be available in India by the third week of February but these vials are mainly for the high-risk group of medical practitioners. The indigenously developed vaccine will not be available before April, officials said here Tuesday.

?The French pharma company Sanofi Pasteur is at least 15 days ahead of others. The vaccine from this company will be available in India by the third week of February,? Drug Controller General of India S. Singh said.
?The company is starting the bridge study (human trials) from Wednesday,? he said.
The price of this imported vaccine will be around Rs.300.

Earlier in the day, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the indigenous swine flu vaccine will be available in India in April. ?We are developing the swine flu vaccine which will form the base for immunising other influenzas like bird flu as well,? he said.

So far, India has reported over 1,100 deaths due to the contagious virus and over 28,000 people have been infected with the disease till now.


http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/...100306495.html

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Imported swine flu vaccine will reach India in February

Human trials of H1N1 vaccine in India to start today
Date updated: 2 hours ago
Provided by : Bolohealth
Mumbai, January 20: Clinical trials for the imported vaccine against swine flu or influenza A (H1N1) will start today. The trials are necessary to help the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) determine whether the vaccine will be safe for Indians.

The vaccine, which has been developed by French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi Pasteur, is being imported to protect healthcare workers, and is planned to be in use by mid-February. The trials will take place in three medical institutes selected for the purpose in Delhi, Chandigarh and Pune. The testing, which will take three weeks, will be carried out on 100 Indian subjects.

Drug Controller General of India, Dr Surinder Singh, said that even if the vaccine was found to be safe, those receiving it would continue to be assessed for a period of six weeks to check for side effects that could include even include serious conditions such as the Guillian-Barri Syndrome (GBS), a rare disease that can lead to paralysis.

He also said that while vaccine trials usually take years, in view of swine flu?s pandemic situation, the companies have been allowed to cut short the time. Doctors point out that no vaccines are completely safe in all cases. People allergic to eggs, for example, cannot use flu vaccines.

The indigenous vaccine against swine flu, being developed in India is, meanwhile, also expected to be out by April 15. Cadila Healthcare has already started trials of a live, inactivated vaccine. Three other companies working on an indigenous vaccine, Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech International and Panacea Biotec, have also got permissions to test the vaccines developed by them.

Dr Singh confirmed that if the testing proved that the Indian vaccines were safe and effective, they would become available around the latter half of April. The Indians vaccine industry is well developed, and the indigenous H1N1 vaccines could be expected to be of a high standard, he pointed out.

For more visit Swine Flu (H1N1) India Center

http://www.bolohealth.com/news/2486-human-trials-of-h1n1-vaccine-in-india-to-start-today

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Re: Imported swine flu vaccine will reach India in February

Doctors, Paramedics to Receive Imported H1N1 Vaccine

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 9:34:07 PM

High-risk groups of doctors and paramedics, who are at the forefront of dealing with swine flu patients will be receiving imported H1N1 vaccine. The decision was taken after the National Institute of Virology (NIV) revealed that the H1N1 viral transmission is still ongoing and has not stopped.

It is reported that the administration in Pune district is collecting information from 24 hospitals in order to know about the requirement for the vaccine. Dr V M Katoch, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) has confirmed that 12-15 lakh doses of the vaccine would be procured from Sanofi Pasteur Pharmaceuticals.

Dr D S Dakhure, director, health, Maharashtra has also revealed that a questionnaire has also been distributed among healthcare workers asking them about their need for the vaccine. ?We have 45,000 people, including doctors, paramedical staff, nurses and other Class IV employees, engaged in the care of patients suffering from swine flu,? said Dakhure.

http://www.medindia.net/news/Doctors-Paramedics-to-Receive-Imported-H1N1-Vaccine-64203-1.htm

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Re: Imported swine flu vaccine will reach India in February

Swine flu vaccination in India likely from Feb 19


New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) After months of wait, India is likely to start swine flu vaccination from Feb 19 and tens of thousands of medical practitioners will get the first doses of the imported vaccine to distribute among the people.

The country has received 1.5 million doses of vaccine from multinational pharma firm Sanofi Pasteur in two installments - 500,000 doses Wednesday and one million doses Thursday - a senior health ministry official told IANS.

"The vaccines have arrived and Sanofi's bridge study in the country is getting over by Feb 10. We will take one more week to analyse them. The vaccine will be released for use after that. Most probably vaccination will start from Feb 19," the official said requesting anonymity.

India has lost 1,260 people to the pandemic virus since India reported its first swine flu death in August last year. So far, swine flu has infected over 29,000 people.

"Doctors and para medics will get the vaccination first," the official told IANS.

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