Earlier this year, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said the company plans to launch an indigenous vaccine to treat cervical cancer in women.
Serum Institute of India (SII) has been granted market authorization by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to manufacture a quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) against cervical cancer that was developed in-house.
“For the first time, there will be an affordable and accessible HPV vaccine to treat cervical cancer in women. We look forward to launching it later this year and we thank the #DCGI @MoHFW_INDIA for granting approval today,” Poonawalla wrote on Twitter.
On June 15, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the CDSCO recommended SII’s anti-cancer vaccine for approval by the drug regulator.
A market authorisation application had been submitted to the DCGI with the support of the Department of Biotechnology after the phase 2/3 clinical trial had been completed.
Among women between the ages of 15 and 44, cervical cancer ranks as the second most common cancer.
