Panacea Biotec, India's second largest biotechnology company and WHO pre-qualified vaccine major, has received an award notification for supply of its EasyFive (pentavalent vaccine) worth US$222.37 million (Rs 1,067 crore), from UNICEF for years 2010, 2011 and 2012. EasyFive is world's first fully liquid pentavalent vaccine introduced in India by the company in January 2005, which immunizes children against five dreadful diseases (diptheria+ tetanus+ whole cell pertussis+ hepatitis B+ hemophilus influenza type b) of early childhood.

Panacea Biotec received the pre-qualification for EasyFive by WHO in July last year. Pantavalent vaccines are used by UN agencies (UNICEF, PAHO etc) to vaccinate and save precious lives of complexity of childhood vaccination programme.

Dr Rajesh Jain, joint managing director, said, "We have always believed that innovation delivers sustainable business value and we are glad to witness the same once again. This award is one of the growth drivers which would have a significant impact on our overall performance in the coming years. We look ahead with confidence and conviction about our performance year after year."

Panacea Biotec has been focusing its R&D efforts on immunization segment. It has launched world's first fully liquid vaccine with brands such as, 'EasyFour' and 'EasyFive'. As part of its overall strategy to garner a firm foothold in various immunization programmes across the globe, the company has partnered with WHO and UNICEF in their effort to maximize coverage of vaccines under the Expanded Programmed on Immunization (EPI). The company has also been granted pre-qualified by WHO for its other two combination vaccines, EasyFour (DTP + HiB) and Ecovac (DTP + Hep B). Panacea Biotec is also a pre-qualified supplier of oral polio vaccine (OPV) and hepatitis-B vaccines to UN agencies.

Pentavalent vaccines for children are preferred by health authorities and individuals world over due to protection against five dreadful diseases in one shot as well as ease of administration. The combined demand of all combination paediatric vaccines worldwide was valued at USD 600 million in 2005 and is estimated to grow up to USD 1.6 billion by 2012. Developing countries would need a combination vaccine to the tune of around 300 million doses annually.