The Hindu Business Line : Drug makers get ready to work on vaccine for cervical cancer

Mumbai, March 22 Domestic drug makers Emcure, Serum Institute and Shantha Biotec have initiated efforts towards developing vaccines against cervical cancer.

This comes even as multinational drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK) introduces its cervical-cancer vaccine, Cervarix, across the country.

But the global spotlight was put on cervical cancer after British reality-television celebrity Jade Goody, who died in her sleep on Sunday, was diagnosed with it late last year. Goody was a contestant in the show Big Brother.

In India, cervical cancer reportedly kills 74,000 women every year. The US-based Merck had brought its cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, to India late last year.

As doctors debate the benefits of a vaccine against cervical cancer, Emcure’s biotech-arm Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, Serum and Shantha Biotech have initiated or are in the process of formalising agreements to develop cervical cancer vaccines, industry representatives confirmed. Panacea Biotech is also said to be interested in the work, though this could not be verified.

A vaccine from local research efforts, if successful, is more than five years away, domestic vaccine-makers admitted. Nevertheless, it will dramatically bring down local prices of these vaccines, they added.

GSK’s Cervarix is priced at Rs 3,300 a dose, and is given in three doses to children and women in the 10 to 45 age group. Merck’s Gardasil, also given in three doses, is for children and women in the nine to 27 age group, and is priced at Rs 2,800 a dose.

Local research

The available vaccines are beyond the reach of most people, said Dr Subhash Singh of Gennova’s Head of Research.

Gennova is working on developing its version of a cost-effective and efficacious vaccine, in three phases, Dr Singh told Business Line. They have partnered with Tata Memorial’s research satellite Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (Actrec), he said.

The virus-like particle used in the vaccine is different from the original product, he explained. And in two separate studies funded by the Department of Biotechnology, the virus-like particle for the vaccine has been produced by Actrec’s department of virology, and its immunogenicity has been tested by Actrec’s immunology department, Dr Singh said.

HPV vaccine

Cervical cancer is caused by the human papilloma virus. Merck’s Gardasil targets strains 16, 18, 6 and 11, while GSK’s bivalent vaccine targets strains 16 and 18.

Dr Singh said that they would develop a generic version of Gardasil, followed by another vaccine that will focus on the target strains of GSK’s vaccine, besides two other genotypes that are prevalent in India. A vaccine with preventive and curative applications is also planned, said the doctor.

Gennova’s patent team had given the research team the go-ahead, Dr Singh said, responding to whether their vaccines could infringe the innovator’s patents.

The HPV vaccine covers only 70 per cent of the viruses. There is a gap that locally developed vaccines can plug, a vaccine maker said. Also, GSK’s vaccine contains a patented adjuvant (or an additive-type substance), an industry source said, indicating that similar products could still be developed.

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