The Asian region, which constitutes about 60 per cent of the global population (mainly contributed by China, India and Indonesia), has a heavy burden of diseases such as Tuberculosis, Malaria and growing menace of HIV. At the same it is fact that living standards in these countries are fast growing. So it is indeed a promising area for the drug developers to seriously focus into development of region specific vaccines, says KV Balasubramaniam, managing director of Indian Immunologicals.

The challenges according to him are the need to focus on region specific vaccines such as Malaria, Dengue, Hepatitis A and appropriate delivery systems, investments in quality R & D in modern biotech, increasing affordability of new generation vaccines, improving manufacturing quality meeting international regulatory requirements, and bring the manufacturing economies of scale.

The Asian human vaccines market accounts for 13 per cent of the global market. And it is mostly volume driven. Most of the manufacturers in Asia are bulk producers of basic vaccines. There are limited numbers of units that are WHO pre-qualified-UNICEF suppliers. In the EPI segment, basic childhood vaccines for major part and focus is now on multivalent vaccines and in non-EPI segment, Hepatitis B, Rabies and JE form the largest component, said Balasubramaniam.

On the trends in the vaccine industry worldwide, he said, the developed countries are focusing on new vaccines, multivalent vaccines and new delivery systems and focus is also on adult and therapeutic vaccines. Dominance in institutional paediatric segment is observed in the developing countries along with substantial growth in private and adult segments.

The large pool of scientific talent, higher investments in research, new investments in quality infrastructure, new strategic alliances are the factors that are sure to drive Asia as a leader in vaccines industry. And India will play a leading role in the development of the industry, he opined.