Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute of India has said that the company has strengthened its manufacturing ahead of launches of vaccines against dengue and malaria in the next few years by repurposing facilities used to make COVID-19 immunisations.
In 2021, when the COVID-19 was at its peak, Serum Institute of India was one of the first pharmaceuticals in the world to launch a vaccine against the coronavirus. In January, 2021, Covishield vaccination was launched by Serum Institute and was rolled out not only across India but also internationally. It turned out to be the world’s largest COVID vaccination roll out.
The company manufactures AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine under the brand name Covishield in India, and also makes Novavax's protein-based Covid shots. Serum invested $2 billion during the peak of the global pandemic crisis to boost production.
Poonawalla’s Plan To Utilise COVID Facilities
As the demand of COVID-19 vaccine subsides, the manufacturing has also scaled back and the company is instead using those facilities to manufacture its newer shots which is estimated to boost production by two and a half billion doses, Adar Poonawalla said in an interview.
Serum Institute is currently selling about 15 billion total vaccine doses every year. It estimates a total production capacity of around 4 billion doses. "And this is also important because if there is a pandemic again in the future, we can vaccinate the whole of India in a matter of three months, three to four months," Poonawalla said.
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Talking further, Poonawalla said, the company is in talks with other countries and governments to utilise those facilities in case of future outbreaks. However, he did not provide further information on the discussions.
According to Poonawalla, Serum holds the capacity to manufacture 100 million doses of its malaria vaccine. He also said that production can be scaled up as per the demands. 25 million doses have already been produced ahead of the upcoming launch.
Mosquito-borne Diseases On The Rise
According to a study published by Journal Of American Mosquito Control Association, India has seen a rise in the number of mosquito-borne diseases in the last 50 years. Diseases like malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and zika virus are some of the common mosquito-borne diseases in India which are on the rise.
Research states India reports around 15 million malaria cases and 2,000 deaths due to malaria, annually. The World Health Organization estimates 300-500 million malaria cases annually, with 90% of this burden being in Africa.
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The ancient mosquito-borne disease still kills more than half a million people, mainly young children in sub-Saharan Africa, every year.
Poonawalla said Serum would focus on exporting its vaccines, such as the malaria shot, to other countries, rather than sign technology transfer deals.
Serum is also testing a single-dose vaccine for dengue, another mosquito-borne, painful and sometimes fatal disease, which it developed building on research done by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.