First India-designed vaccine ‘Rotovac’ passes WHO test
January 27th, 2018
For the first time, a vaccine conceived and developed from scratch in India has been “pre-qualified” by the World Health Organisation. The Rotavac vaccine, developed by the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Limited last year, was included in India’s national immunisation programme. To be “pre-qualified” means that the vaccine can be sold internationally to several countries in Africa and South America. While several vaccines from India have been pre-qualified, this is the first that was entirely developed locally and, according to experts, is a sign that there is a credible industrial, scientific and regulatory process in place to develop vaccines in India.