The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Shantha Biotech chief laments official apathy

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Monday, Aug 20, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Shantha Biotech chief laments official apathy

Special Correspondent

‘Shanvac-B’ not included in national immunisation schedule

HYDERABAD: Shantha Biotech’s Managing Director K.I. Varaprasada Reddy on Sunday criticised the Centre for non-inclusion of ‘Shanvac-B’, a vaccine against hepatitis B developed by his company, in the national immunisation schedule and blamed it on the “bureaucratic apathy.”

Shantha Biotech celebrated the completion of a decade of ‘Shanvac-B’.

Mr. Reddy minced no words when he said bureaucrats did not know what was happening around. He referred to the recent announcement by Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramdoss that mono-Hep-B vaccine would be included in the immunisation schedule. In fact, Shantha Biotechnics Ltd combined Hep-B with DPT and released a recombinant vaccine.

The Governments were not encouraging local entrepreneurs, though they proved their mettle elsewhere in the world. The State pitched the local companies against the multi-national companies to fight for their share in the market. “Such is the sad state of affairs,” he observed.

Intriguing clause

The announcement by the Union Ministry, which appeared encouraging on its face, contained an intriguing clause that there were no indigenous recombinant vaccines.

Shantha won over 100 awards for its success in making the Hep-B vaccine and yet it was not incorporated in the vaccination schedule.

“Nothing had changed in 10 years. If at all the company had survived and flourished, it was all thanks to the exports as the World Health organisation had pre-qualified the drug,” he observed. When thousands of children benefited by the vaccine elsewhere, the child in “our own backyard” wasn’t lucky enough.

Since it hit the world market, the cost of ‘Shanvac-B’ came down by 40 times and consumption went up by 100 times. He, however, thanked those “10 per cent of bureaucrats” who helped the industry flourish and the drug become popular.

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