Bharat Biotech International, a leading producer of vaccines in India with a focus on product-oriented R&D, has introduced Comvac5, a single shot Pentavalent Combination vaccine, containing Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus and Hepatitis B, and Haemophilus Influenza type b (Hib).

Comvac5 is safe, efficacious and an affordable vaccine that offers complete protection against Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) antigen bacterium causes serious disease, often life-threatening illnesses in young children. Hib can cause meningitis and severe pneumonia, leading to three million cases of serious illness and 400,000 deaths each year in children under five years of age.

This indigenous vaccine helps reduce childhood sicknesses and deaths from preventable diseases at affordable cost. With a single injection, this vaccine has the ability to protect children against multiple infectious diseases. "The Pentavalent vaccine demonstrates our commitment to consistently develop, safe and affordable vaccines for the emerging world," stated Dr Krishna M Ella, chairman and managing director, Bharat Biotech International.

Combination Pentavalent vaccines have been approved by several countries and included in their respective National Immunization programs for childhood vaccinations. Combination vaccines come highly recommended by WHO and other global regulatory agencies since they combine five antigens into a single dose, thus eliminating the need for multiple injections to infants. Reduction of injections to infants has proven to reduce the amount of side effects and probability of disease transmission through needle contamination.

While other Indian manufacturers have imported conjugation and manufacturing technologies from Europe, and USA, the scientific, manufacturing and product development teams at Bharat Biotech have indigenously developed all processes required to manufacture Comvac5 in-house at Bharat Biotech. Bharat Biotech has made significant investments to the tune of several million dollars over the past four years, into its R&D capabilities and its manufacturing facilities to enable the development and manufacture of Comvac5.

The Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is one of the first bio-pharma facilities in India to be audited and approved by Korean Food & Drugs Administration (KFDA). Bharat Biotech is also a WHO pre-qualified manufacturer of vaccines for supply to UNICEF and global procurement agencies.