Bharat Biotech has decided to price its Rotovac vaccine, which is undergoing Phase-III clinical trials on 8,000 subjects in India, at $1 (approximately Rs 45). The company said the vaccine was aimed at rotavirus diarrhoea and expects the India licence for it in 2014.
Citing the estimates of the US-based Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, it said rotavirus causes approximately 352,000–592,000 deaths a year worldwide (median, 440,000 deaths) in children below five. Rotavirus diarrhoea is an emerging infectious disease, according to a release.
Krishna Ella, CMD, Bharat Biotech, said with this, the company was able to keep a promise it had made to the Gates Foundation to develop and supply a novel rotavirus vaccine at US$ 1 per dose.
