Serum Institute is permitted by DCGI to export malaria vaccine to UK

The first malaria vaccine made in India that was developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and produced by Serum Institute has been approved for sale to the UK, according to official sources, who spoke on Thursday. Two lakh doses of the vaccine may be sent, according to authorization from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).

According to official sources quoted by PTI, Prakash Kumar Singh, director of government and regulatory affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII), applied to DCGI on September 27 to request authorization to export the malaria vaccine.

“SII has developed the vaccine against malaria under leadership of our CEO Dr Adar C Poonawalla. We have been relentlessly working to make available made-in-India and world-class vaccines against malaria to our country and world at large,” an official source quoted Singh as having said in the application.

At the moment, GSK is the manufacturer of the sole malaria vaccine that is accessible worldwide. According to the sources, the SII and the Jenner Institute of the University of Oxford worked together in 2020 to manufacture and develop the malaria vaccine for mass distribution.

The vaccine trial results in Nanoro, Burkina Faso, which involved 409 children, showed that three initial doses followed by a booster after a year provided up to 80% protection against the disease, they stated. Trials in advanced stages are currently being conducted in African nations by the SII and Oxford University.