Bigger India

100 People in the UK Swallowed Live Bacteria to Help Create India’s Breakthrough Typhoid Vaccine

The first conjugate vaccine for typhoid, by the Hyderabad-based company Bharat Biotech, was prequalified by the World Health Organisation in December 2017 and has caught the attention of GAVI, the international vaccine alliance.

When a 100 residents of Oxford, United Kingdom agreed to swallow live typhoid bacteria as part of a study, they paved the way for a breakthrough Indian vaccine for typhoid.

The first conjugate vaccine for typhoid, by the Hyderabad-based company Bharat Biotech, was prequalified by the World Health Organisation in December 2017 and has caught the attention of GAVI, the international vaccine alliance.

India has produced a vaccine that can be administered to children as young as 6 months, unlike previous typhoid vaccines that could only be given to children 2 years old and above. To test this vaccine’s strength, Bharat Biotech not only did clinical trials in India but undertook a ‘human challenge study’ in Oxford, an unusual feat for Indian companies, according to Bharat’s founder and managing director Dr. Krishna Ella.

Read it at News18

You must be logged in to post a comment Login