Zydus Cadila to launch tetravalent influenza vaccine in India

VTC further plans to develop a wide spectrum of vaccines against bacterial, viral and protozoal infections and has a robust pipeline of vaccines like pentavalent (DTP-Hib-HepB), conjugated typhoid vaccine, HPV, MMRV, malaria and hepatitis B vaccines. The group also markets the anti-rabies vaccine and the typhoid vaccine.

Pankaj Patel, chairman and managing director, Zydus Cadila said, “Disease prevention is the key to public health in both the developing and the developed world and vaccines have the potential to improve the quality of life in both spectrums. In countries such as India, there is a pressing need for low cost, high quality vaccines that can address healthcare challenges. With the launch of vaccines like VaxiFlu-4 we are serving the cause of public health and meeting the twin challenge of affordability and accessibility.”

Influenza, or the ‘flu’ as it is commonly called, is an infection of the respiratory tract. It is a dreaded disease and the morbidity and mortality rates associated with influenza are especially high during pandemics. Annually it is estimated that it attacks 5-10 percent of adults and 20-30 percent of children globally and causes significant levels of illness, hospitalisation and death. In India, the 2009 swine flu pandemic infected more than 10 million people and resulted in more than 18000 deaths worldwide. The last major outbreak in India occurred in 2015 with more than 33000 registered cases of influenza and over 2000 deaths.

There are different strains of influenza viruses that infect human beings, the predominant ones being influenza A and influenza B. The common subtypes of influenza A found in general circulation among people are H1N1 (which was responsible for the devastating swine flu pandemic) and H3N2. The subtypes of influenza B commonly found in circulation are influenza B (Brisbane – Victoria lineage) and influenza B (Phuket – Yamagata lineage).