SII to launch HPV vaccine to treat cervical cancer in women
Serum Institute of India will launch India’s first indigenously developed Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) to treat cervical cancer in women. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted permission to manufacture the vaccine. The approval comes on the heels of a recommendation by the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for the Covid vaccine.
Thanking DGCI for granting the approvals, SII CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted, “For the first time, there will be an Indian HPV vaccine to treat cervical cancer in women that is both affordable and accessible. We look forward to launching it later this year, and we thank the #DCGI @MoHFW_INDIA for granting approval today.”
SII sought market authorisation from DGCI after completing the phase 2/3 clinical trial of the vaccine.
Failed attempt
It is not India’s first attempt to launch a qHPV vaccine to treat cervical cancer. In 2009, the organisation named Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) launched a trial using two US-developed HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix.
As a part of the trials, 13,000 girls were vaccinated with Gardasil in Andhra Pradesh, and 10,000 girls were vaccinated with Cervarix in Gujarat.
However, the central government had to put the trials on hold after seven girls enrolled in the project died.
The activist groups held the vaccination responsible for the deaths and alleged that there were serious ethical violations in the program. Though the internal inquiry by the central government asserted that the vaccination did not cause the deaths, the project never really picked up after the controversy.
Why is it so relevant?
Recent studies have revealed that cervical cancer is the second-most frequent cancer detected among women aged between 15 and 44 in India. According to the study published in the Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology, India accounts for a third of global death due to cervical cancer. In India, the cases of cervical cancer range from 80,000 to 90,000 annually.
As far as global statistics are concerned, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer diagnosed in women, following breast, lung, and colorectal cancer.
These figures indicate that the world, especially India, desperately needs a vaccine to treat cervical cancer. SII’s new vaccine could be a breakthrough for the world.
