Soon India will get its first made in India vaccine against cervical cancer which is developed by Serum Institute of India (SII) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). The daid vaccine is Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV).
In July 2022, The Serum Institute of India (SII)’s vaccine Cervavac received the Drugs Controller General of India’s (DGCI) approval for market authorisation. Cervavac is India’s first quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) vaccine, and intended to protect women against cervical cancer.
Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer type and the second most common cause of cancer death in women of reproductive age (15–44).
India accounts for about a fifth of the global burden, with 1.23 lakh cases and around 67,000 deaths per year according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO).
Two vaccines licensed globally are available in India — a quadrivalent vaccine (Gardasil, from Merck) and a bivalent vaccine (Cervarix, from GlaxoSmithKline). Each dose costs Rs 2,800 per dose (Gradasil) or Rs 3,299 (Cervarix).
Although HPV vaccination was introduced in 2008, it has yet to be included in the national immunisation programme.
