Local pharma companies to challenge MNCs in pneumonia vaccine space

The duopoly of pneumonia vaccines in India is in for some shake-up soon, as homegrown players like Aurobindo Pharma, Cadila Healthcare (Zydus Cadila), and Serum Institute are readying their vaccine candidates. The Indian market is at present dominated by GlaxoSmithKline Pharma and Pfizer. 

India has the highest burden globally for pneumonia-related child deaths. In 2016, the number of pneumonia deaths among children under five was 158,176 in India, according to the Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report released in 2018-end by International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Over two-thirds of the global burden of