SII’s Indigenously developed cervical cancer vaccine will be available for ₹200-400

Cervical cancer in India ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had in July granted market authorisation to the SII to manufacture the vaccine against cervical cancer.

India’s first indigenously developed Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer will be launched in a few months, SII’s Adar Poonawalla said on 1 September.

“The cervical cancer vaccine will be affordable and would be available in the range of ₹200-400. However, the final price is yet to be decided”, he said. Adar Poonawalla attended an event along with Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Thursday to announce the scientific completion of the vaccine. 

Scientific completion implies that R&D activities pertaining to the vaccine are complete and now the next step of making them available to the public would take place. 

Poonawalla also said, “First the vaccine would be made available through the government channel and from next year onwards some private partners would be involved too.” 

Poonawalla also said that a plan to make 200 million doses is in place and first the vaccine would be given in India and only after that it will be exported to other countries.

Rajesh Gokhale, Department of Biotechnology Secretary, said over 2000 volunteers participated across the country for this vaccine. “Partnerships between private-public are becoming very important in such research, this co-creation is what is going to make all the difference in the world,” he said.

According to the officials, the qHPV vaccine CERVAVAC has demonstrated robust antibody response that is nearly 1,000 times higher than the baseline against all targeted HPV types and in all dose and age groups.

Cervical cancer in India ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had in July granted market authorisation to the SII to manufacture the vaccine against cervical cancer.