The Hindu : Front Page : H1N1 vaccine trials in Hyderabad soon

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Thursday, Jan 07, 2010
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H1N1 vaccine trials in Hyderabad soon

HYDERABAD: The swine flu vaccine trials, also known as bridging trials, will be taken up at Government Chest Hospital, Erragadda by the end of February. The bridging trials are first step towards taking up a vaccine inoculation programme among high-risk groups in the country.

Authorities here have informed that, if the trials succeed, then by April, the first swine flu vaccine could be introduced in the market. Depending on their success, authorities informed that the Indian government could import 15 to 20 lakh doses of swine flu vaccine.

Chest Hospital doctors will also prepare a micro-plan to ascertain the number of targeted risk groups like pregnant women, children, healthcare workers and persons with co-existing morbidities, who would have to be inoculated in the future.

Bridging trials are necessary to find the efficacy of the vaccine, developed in the U.S. and other countries, on Indian patients. Already, officials from the Ministry of Health, New Delhi, have alerted Chest Hospital doctors about the impending vaccine trials in the hospital.

“Bridging trials are needed till indigenous H1N1 vaccine is developed. The trial will help assess safety and tolerance among the diverse population in India. Several other hospitals in the country will also take part in the trials,” State swine flu coordinator K. Subhakar told The Hindu.

Top pharmaceutical companies including GSK, Novartis, Sanofi Pasteur and Baxter have come forward to import the H1N1 vaccine into India. However, swine flu vaccine could only be used in a government-run inoculation programme, on the lines of pulse polio drive, only after successful completion by bridging studies.

Three die

In the last fortnight, six H1N1 positive cases were reported, of which three persons died. “The deceased were brought in a very critical condition,” Dr. Subhakar said.

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