First indigenous vaccine for cervical cancer prevention to be out tomorrow

India's first indigenously developed quadrivalent Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer will be launched here on Thursday, officials said on Wednesday

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had last month granted market authorisation to Serum Institute of India (SII) to manufacture an indigenously-developed vaccine against cervical cancer.

Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh will launch the vaccine at IIC Delhi. SII CEO Adar Poonawalla will be present at the event, the officials 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 DCGI's approval had come following recommendation by the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the CDSCO on June 15 after Prakash Kumar Singh, director (government and regulatory affairs) at Serum Institute, had applied to the DCGI seeking market authorisation of qHPV after the phase second and third clinical trial was completed with support of the Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology to ensure its early availability.