Shanvac-B, India's low-cost recombinant hepatitis B vaccine
Shanvac-B, vacuna recombinante india de hepatitis B de bajo coste
- Date
- 1997 · confidence medium
- Place
- Shantha Biotechnics, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
- Credited to
- K. I. Varaprasad Reddy and Shantha Biotechnics
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
First recombinant hepatitis B vaccine made in India, launched by Shantha Biotechnics at about one tenth the price of imports. It broke the multinationals' monopoly and opened the market to vaccine makers of the Global South.
The launch year (1997) and the price ratio (from several hundred rupees per imported dose to about 50) come from the company itself and the Indian press; Sanofi bought the firm in 2009.
What it led to
- Indian-made vaccines entering UNICEF procurement and WHO prequalification
- falling prices of paediatric vaccines through UNICEF procurement
- Indian biotechnology ecosystem (Hyderabad, Genome Valley)