The Hindu : Cell culture rabies vaccine lab opens in Hyderabad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

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National

Cell culture rabies vaccine lab opens in Hyderabad

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, MARCH 22. A ten-year-old dream became a reality on Monday when a `Cell Culture Rabies Vaccine Laboratory' was inaugurated on the campus of the Veterinary Biological Research Institute (VBRI).

The only other such facility is in Bangalore and it has already started production and supply of the vaccine through Government veterinary hospitals.

Though the project was conceived in 1993, it took a long time for the State Government to acquire the land in Shantinagar on the premises of the VBRI here.

The laboratory will manufacture and supply a safe vaccine without any side-effects to achieve the twin objectives of eradicating rabies from Andhra Pradesh and creating an `immune zone'.

The lab was thrown open by M.V. Rao, chairman, AP - Netherlands Biotechnology Programme Committees in the presence of P. Ramakanth Reddy, Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Andhra Pradesh.

Until its use was `officially discouraged' by the World Health Organisation and the Supreme Court too passed a related order, the nervous tissue (sheep brain) anti-rabies vaccine was widely used — both the prophylactic doses and post-bite therapy.

Inherent disadvantages, too many side-effects and the high cost ultimately led to the vaccine falling out of favour and yielding place to the Cell Culture Rabies Vaccine (CCRV).

The Joint Director and head of the VBRI, M. Vijayakumari, who is also the Principal Investigator in the biotech project, said that the VBRI used to produce and supply 1,500 to 2,000 doses of post-bite vaccine on demand.

One dose consists of a 14-day course of 30 ml a day. It also used to supply about 20,000 doses of prophylactic vaccine a year for immunisation of dogs.

The Joint Director, M. Ramakrishna Rao, and Assistant Director, M.A. Lateef Khan, said that the lab would be able to begin production, complete field trials and roll out supplies by December, 2005.

Initially, they would start with a capacity of about 1 lakh doses and over the years it would go up to 20 lakh doses a year.

Animal rights activist, Amala Akkineni, hailed the initiative. Compared to the old sheep brain vaccine, the CCRV was more reliable, stable, safe and humane, she said.

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