Cervical cancer vaccine launch in few months, to be priced between Rs 200-400: Adar Poonawalla
New Delhi, Sep 1: India's first indigenously developed quadrivalent Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer will be launched in a few months and made available to the people in an affordable price range of Rs 200-400, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Thursday.
Speaking at an event held to announce the scientific completion of the vaccine, Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said the vaccine will be affordable and the government will ensure that it is accessible to the common man.
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
Singh said Covid has raised awareness about preventive healthcare leading to the development of vaccines like the one against cervical cancer.
"The schemes like Ayushman Bharat have made us think about preventive healthcare and we can now afford it. The Department of Biotechnology has taken a lead in the matter and are in collaborative mode," he said.
"Scientific efforts at times do not get the scale of recognition they deserve. So this event is to celebrate that scientific completion," he said.
Poonawalla told reporters on the sidelines of the event, "The cervical cancer vaccine will be affordable and would be available in the range of Rs 200-400. However, the final price will be decided after detailed discussions with the government".
"The vaccine would be much much less in price as compared to other vaccines for cervical cancer," he said.
Poonawalla said the vaccine will be possibly launched by the end of the year.
First the vaccine would be made available through the government channel and from next year onwards some private partners would be involved too, he said.
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 needs of the country are fulfilled 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.
Dr N Kalaiselvi, Director General, CSIR said this is the first stepping stone and research in the field and it will further continue.
"This government has taken the most amount of care to come up with this type of innovation, making us 'atmanirbhar'," she 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 Serum Institute to manufacture the vaccine against cervical cancer.
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Skipper Curran, bowlers lead PBKS to a five-wicket win over RR
Guwahati, May 15: Skipper Sam Curran played the lead act hitting a well-paced fifty and taking two wickets, as Punjab Kings consigned Rajasthan Royals to a five-wicket defeat in their IPL match here on Wednesday.
The target was a mere 145, but Kings made heavy weather of it on a sluggish track here but Curran (63 not out, 41b, 5x4, 3x6) had a calm head and skills to lift them to their fifth win of the season. PBKS made 145/5 in 18.5 overs.
The Englishman received good support from Jitesh Sharma (22, 20b) as the pair added 63 runs in a fluent fifth wicket partnership.
For Royals, it was their fourth defeat on the trot, but they remained second on the table with 16 points with a qualification to the playoffs to boot with.
The Kings’ chase began on a shaky note as they lost Prabhsimran Singh in the first over itself to Trent Boult.
But bigger jolts were in store as an impressive Avesh Khan (2/28) scalped two wickets in the fifth over.
The right-arm pacer first plucked the important wicket of Rilee Rossouw, who played some strong shots in his 13-ball 22, and then jettisoned in-form Shashank Singh for a two-ball naught.
Shashank failed to connect a fuller, straighter one from Avesh while attempting a flick, and the 141 kmph delivery thudded on his bat. Shashank did not even bother to use DRS as he walked away.
Punjab gained some ground through the alliance between Curran and Jitesh, who smoked R Ashwin for two sixes.
Curran too gave a dose of punishment to the veteran offie, lofting him for a wonderful six over extra cover.
But the blossoming stand was snapped by Yuzvendra Chahal (2/31), leaving PBKS at 111 for five in the 16th over.
However, Curran and Ashutosh Sharma (17 not out, 11 balls) knocked off the remaining runs without further drama.
Earlier, despite a well-tuned 48 from local hero Riyan Parag, RR struggled against an array of accurate bowlers on a rather slow pitch, meandering to a sub-par 144 for nine.
R Ashwin (28, 19b, 3x4, 1x6) and Parag (48, 34, 6x4) tried to accelerate during their 50-run stand for the fourth wicket but it could only bring in a temporary momentum for RR.
In fact, lethargy had set in very early in the Rajasthan innings after the early loss of Jaiswal, who chopped a Curran (2/24) delivery back on to his stumps.
Sanju Samson (18), who went past 500-run in a season for the first time in his IPL career, and Tom-Kohler Cadmore (18, 23b) stitched 36 runs for the second wicket but took six overs for it.
But with Curran and Arshdeep finding a hint of swing and maintaining a good line, scoring was not an easy proposition for the RR batters.
Eventually, Samson, who tried a hopping cut off pacer Nathan Ellis, gave a simple catch to Rahul Chahar at point in the seventh over.
Cadmore too returned to the dugout in the next over, as his almighty heave off leg-spinner Chahar (2/26) could not progress beyond Jitesh in the deep.
Those twin dismissals actually paved the way for the best phase in the Royals’ innings as Ashwin and Parag pressed their foot on the right pedal.
Ashwin displayed his batting skills, smashing Chahar for 17 runs in the 12th over that included a sequence of 6, 4, 4 and the first four was a stunning reverse scoop over backward point.
But he could not further extend his innings, lofting Arshdeep to Shashank.
Parag, usually a free-flowing batter, had to curb his flair in front of a hugely adoring home crowd because of the regular fall of wickets at the other end.
But a late cut off Curran that sped to third man stood as a testament of his ability and timing as he also moved past the 500-run mark for the season, before getting trapped in front of the wicket by Harshal Patel.
However, apart from conquering those little peaks the RR batters failed to slip into the top gear consistently.
