International vaccine major Chiron Corporation will commence full-fledged marketing operations in the country beginning January 2005, confirmed senior company officials. The company's plan is to set-up own team to market its products across the country.

Chiron's scheme of things includes appointing first line managers and an equal number of second line managers for each of the country's 26 states. The company would also recruit adequate field officers/ medical representatives ranging from 10-15 for sales across these states, sources said.

Confirming the company's plans, Masood Alam, head of Commercial Operations, Indian sub-continent, Chiron Vaccines, said, "Chiron will have full-scale marketing operations of its own shortly. Considering India's size as a valuable market, our presence in this country is inevitable." Chiron is having plans to introduce new vaccines in the country in future, he added.

According to sources, Chiron is in head hunting spree and a couple of senior executives and topline managers, from a leading pharma MNC which is currently marketing vaccines in the country, who already have expressed their interest to join the new Chiron team.

At present, Chiron is having a tie-up with Aventis India to market its rabies vaccine and a similar arrangement with the Delhi-based Panacea Biotech for distributing polio and combination vaccines. The company has tied up with both the companies to manufacture these vaccines. In its JV with Aventis Pharma to make rabies vaccine at Ankleshwar, Chiron holds 51 per cent stake. The company's alliance with Panacea Biotec is basically a supplier arrangement wherein, Chiron supplies the bulk, while finished dosages and distribution is done by Panacea.

Moreover, India is an export hub for the company to places like South America and South East Asia. Currently, the company exports its anti-Rabies vaccines to these places from its Ankleshwar facility. The company is also doing collaborative research in the area of paediatric and adult vaccines with Panacea biotech.

The current vaccine market in India is worth $ 100 million, which is growing at the rate of 20 per cent annually. The important vaccine marketers in the country include names like Serum Institute, Haffkine Institute, Panacea Biotec, Shantha Biotech, Bharat Biotech, Aventis Pharma, GSK and Wyeth.

The California-based Chiron was recently in news for the controversy regarding its flu vaccine. Apart from flu vaccine, the company is the major supplier of meninjugate, paediatric and travel range of vaccines. The company has an active pipeline comprising monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and menigococcal, HCV vaccines.