MC Exclusive | Awaiting govt direction for developing monkeypox vaccine: Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India (SII) has started exploring options for developing monkeypox vaccines. The company is in touch with several drug makers for developing a vaccine with newer technologies.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII, in an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol, said his company is also open to the idea of developing a monkeypox vaccine but is awaiting government direction.

Poonawalla feels there is no need to panic yet, and it is important to take a cautious step forward.

Edited excerpts:

How do you think monkeypox has evolved in the current scenario?

Monkeypox has been around for many decades. The world healthcare infrastructure has strengthened due to COVID, and it is now more vigilant to detect emerging outbreaks and viruses like never before.

In today’s scenario, with WHO’s expertise and even at the country level, we are well equipped to detect outbreaks like monkeypox well in advance. Therefore, we don’t need to panic.

However, we need to remain vigilant and follow the health ministry and WHO guidelines, especially in areas where the outbreak is spreading.

What is Serum Institute’s plan for developing vaccines for monkeypox?  

The industry is taking baby steps to deliberate on how vaccines for monkeypox need to be developed. We don’t need crores of doses like COVID for monkeypox today, but it may change in the next few weeks or months.

The Serum Institute is currently in talks with three companies; Bavarian Nordic, Novovax and Greenlight Biosciences. We may import some of Bavarian Nordic’s monkeypox vaccines as a stockpile but we have to decide on its quantity, as it’s an expensive vaccine.

We want to explore the mRNA messenger technology and other technologies. We are in talks with the partners regarding the same. When we will start clinical trials, we will decide on the quantity based on the spread, severity of the infection and the demand for vaccine

Will your company take part in ICMR’s (Indian Council of Medical Research) bid for developing a vaccine?

All options are currently open. We will wait for the government's direction. So far, no one has contacted me. I am doing what I can at the moment. At some stage, we will have a discussion with the government to align our strategy on how we want to tackle this new disease.

We will wait for a week or two and see what the government says. The government’s task force is doing internal deliberations and they will also come up with a proper plan on how they want to progress with manufacturers.

It was a very good partnership with the task force during COVID.

Right now, we need to be vigilant, but we don’t need to rush in and build a whole plant as it requires a lot of investment and you have to stop making other vaccines there.

What are your thoughts on the uptake of booster doses of Covishield, now that the government is giving them free to mark the country’s 75th year of Independence?

The uptake has been very good. Initially, during the last few weeks, there was a bit of a slump as the number of cases was also under control. When they started rising, the government made the right decision to offer it free for 75 days. It has received a great response from the people.

This is a testament to PM Modi’s leadership and his government in conveying the importance of vaccines.

We, as a country, have been most successful in case of boosters as compared to other countries. Our vaccine coverage during the pandemic was the highest, even more than that in the US.

We have been successful in dispelling vaccine hesitancy. Our government has done a wonderful job.

Your company developed a human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine that will offer protection against cervical cancer. When is the roll-out of qHPV expected in India?

We were using all facilities for COVID vaccines. Now that we have reduced demand for COVID vaccines, we have re-purposed the plants for making qHPV. A very small quantity would be available by the end of this year.

In November or December, we hope to launch the qHPV vaccine, and, next year, we can make close to 70-100 million doses. This is a ‘Made-in-India’ vaccine.

Vaccination for children below the age of 12 is yet to get NTAGI (National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) clearance. What is your view on this? 

It’s a risk-and-reward analysis for vaccination of children. I fully support the government in taking time to look at the data, because children’s vaccination has to be safe. As a manufacturer, I would say there is no harm in going slow on children’s vaccination.

Serum Institute became the largest manufacturer of COVID vaccines. Now, with demand subsiding, what is your next plan?

During the pandemic, we built an additional 2 billion dose capacity. So now, we have a capacity of 4 billion doses. During the pandemic, we produced 1.9 billion doses of Covishield.

Now we are looking at making vaccines like Human papillomavirus vaccines, flu vaccines, malaria vaccines (which the company plans to launch by the end of next year), and yellow fever vaccines. We plan to launch a vaccine every year.

We want to enter new geographies like Europe and the US. We now have the financial strength to compete with big pharma companies.

We are the first company in India whose facilities in Pune have approvals from both the European Medicines Agency and the United States Food and Drug Administration. Now that we have demonstrated our quality prowess and ability, it should not be too difficult to get more products registered, but it will be expensive. We will take a cautious step forward and venture into the western part of the globe.