A new vaccine candidate that could potentially save the lives of thousands of infants will be soon be undergoing trials in India.GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK) has recently received approval to conduct clinical studies on its rotavirus vaccine candidate called Rotarix.According to S Kalyanasundaram managing director of GSK, the company plans to initiate clinical trials for the rotavirus vaccine shortly in India.GSK and its American competitor Merck, recently published findings of large-scale studies in the New England Journal of Medicine,which indicates that their vaccines are effective in preventing rotavirus infections.Rotavirus is the leading cause of diarrhoea-related illness and death among infants and young children.
Every year, rotavirus is associated with an estimate 25m clinic visits, two million hospitalisations and more than 6,00,000 deaths worldwide among children less than five years of age . Of these, an estimated 1,00,000 deaths are in India alone.In addition, GSK is planning to conduct trials of some more products in the country.Mr Kalyanasundaram said " We have also applied for approval to conduct for trials for our cervical cancer vaccine." The cervical cancer vaccine,called Cervarix,has shown promising results in late-stage trials conducted in the West. GSK has been increasing its clinical research activities in India. " Our current portfolio is growing and we contribute to above 6% of the total volume of trials," Mr Kalyanasundaram said. India ranks among the top 10 centres for GSK worldwide. |
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| Posted : 1/30/2006 |
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