Pneumococcal vaccine developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India has been pre-qualified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the third week of December 2019. The prequalification of the vaccine by WHO was based on the results of a phase-3 trial (the final phase of human clinical trial) carried out in 2,250 children in Gambia, a small West African country. According to a November 2019 UNICEF report, pneumonia caused 1,27,000 deaths in India in 2018, the second highest number of child mortality under the age of five in the world. In India, pneumonia and diarrhoea cause the most deaths in children under five years. The pneumococcal vaccine PNEUMOSIL is a conjugate vaccine to help produce stronger immune response to a weak antigen. Serum Institute had optimised an efficient conjugate vaccine manufacturing processes for its meningitis A vaccine (MenAfriVac), which was used for manufacturing the pneumococcal vaccine. This helped the company reduce the manufacturing cost of pneumococcal vaccine.
WHO launches first biosimilar medicine to treat Breast Cancer
The World Health Organization launched its first biosimilar medicine to treat breast cancer. The WHO intends to make the expensive, life-saving treatment affordable for women all over the world Highlights WHO launched a biosimilar medicine “Trastuzumab”in order to treat breast cancer. It is an antibody that shows high efficacy in curing early stages of breast cancers. It was included in the WHO Essential Medicines List in 2015. Essential Medicines of WHO The Essential Medicines according to the WHO, are the medicines that satisfy priority health care needs. It was launched in 1977 and updated once in two years. The list includes medicines for both adult and children. The current list was published in April 2019. Significance In women, breast cancers are the most common form of cancers. Around 2.1 million women are affected by breast cancers (2018 UN data).
