Cancer of the hepatobiliary system (cancer of the liver, gall bladder and bile ducts) or cervical cancer could be cured by taking the typhoid vaccine as there was reason to believe that some bacteria and virus were also responsible for causing cancer. This was stated by Dr John Robbins, Father of Polysaccharide Vaccines, in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Delivering a lecture on “Emerging Enteric Bacterial Diseases” at a felicitation function organized for him by Bharat Biotech International Ltd, Dr Robbins said diagnosis of typhoid had always been difficult, especially in children below two years. Though he did not know the exact reason for this, he said the only way to diagnose typhoid fever with 100 per cent accuracy was through the bone marrow test. But this cannot be a universal practice, especially for the poor in view of the cost involved. Hence it was all the more necessary to vaccinate both children and adults. He also expressed the need for a strong immunization policy to cover all vital vaccines.

Dr Robbins, in his presentation, highlighted the experiments done on typhoid vaccine in Vietnam and China and said typhoid fever had been completely eliminated in China. India, he said, had a similar problem as in Vietnam with unhygienic living conditions and unsafe drinking water. However, the use of vaccines as a preventive measure can help reduce the magnitude of the disease, he said.

With a Doctorate in Medicine from New York University, Dr Robbins became the Associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. Later he joined the National Institutes of Health and Human Development and the Food and Drug Administration and was responsible for clinical studies and development of bacterial products. His inquisitive mind and vast experience in dealing with childhood bacterial diseases gave Dr Robbins a deeper understanding of the mechanism of molecular immunity.

Dr Robbins had won a number of awards, the most recent ones being the Lasker Award and the WHO Pasteur Award. He got this award for developing a new approach in vaccinology against Haemophilus influenza type B. In the year 2001, he was also awarded the Albert B Sabin gold medal for dedicating his career to develop vaccines that prevent diseases like meningitis, pertusses and typhoid. Recently, the US FDA gave its approval to manufacture and market a new DT&P vaccine developed by Dr Robbins. His other major research interests are again vaccines for Staphylococcus, Salmonella, E Coli etc. All these achievements rightly made him the Father of Polysaccharide Vaccines.

Dr Robbins had been helping Bharat Biotech International Ltd (BBIL) in developing a number of vaccines. He had given the vaccinal strain and expertise for the production of Vi capsular polysaccharide typhoid vaccine to BBIL.

After the launch of its Hepatitis-B vaccine, Revac-B, and sale of 35 million doses, the company is all set for the launch of its typhoid vaccine. The vaccine is being manufactured at its Hyderabad plant which will have a capacity to manufacture 6 million doses per annum. The estimated market for typhoid vaccines in India is about 50 million doses. At present the vaccine is being imported by Wockhardt and Zydus Cadila.

According to Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of BBIL, the company was in the process of filing a patent for Hepatitis-A vaccine and another vaccine for malaria was being readied for the market. A Rabies vaccine and a Rota Virus infection vaccine are also in the pipeline in the vaccine category, Dr Ella said.

He also gave a brief presentation on the research facilities at Bharat Biotech and the company's products in the pipeline. He said BBIL had no competitors and its fight was only with infectious diseases.

Medical and Health Minister Dr Kodela Sivaprasada Rao, who felicitated Dr Robbins by presenting a memento, said the state's Universal Immunisation Programme was very successful and AP had become polio-free during the last three years. He said the Hepatitis-B programme which had been in progress in 12 districts would be extended to the remaining 11 districts by the end of 2003.

The Minister said though typhoid cases had come down in the state, there was possibility of its resurgence due to consumption of polluted water and contaminated food. He wanted Dr Robbins to help develop a vaccine for HIV/AIDS as the state was second in the country in the incidence of HIV positive cases.

Dr Rao said that 17 vaccine manufacturing units in the state produced 70 per cent of the vaccines in the country. Keeping this in view, the Minister appealed to Dr Robbins to spend more time in the state to give a boost to the pharma and biotech sectors.