058. Open Letter To WHO On Pentavalent Vaccine Related Deaths In India

Open letter To WHO On Pentavalent Vaccine-Related Deaths In India

Pentavalent vaccine was introduced in two states of India last year by the World Health Organization (WHO). Several alleged deaths occurring due to the vaccine, prompted the All India Drug Action Network to write to WHO asking for a re-evaluation of the introduction of the vaccine.

By All-India Drug Action Network

To: 

Dr. Margaret Chan,
The Director General,
World Health Organization, 

Geneva

Dear Dr Margaret Chan,

All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) is a network of not-for-profit civil society organizations that has been campaigning and working for rational use of medicines, largely in the Indian context. We have written to you in the past. We would like to bring your attention to the Pentavalent (DPT + Hib + Hepatitis B) vaccine related deaths in India.

According to the Brighton classification of ‘Adverse Events Following Immunization’ (AEFI), re-challenge and recurrence of symptoms in the individual is needed for classification of AEFI as ‘certainly related to vaccine’. Such re-challenge is impossible if in the first instance, AEFI results in death. In the absence of proof from a re-challenge experiment, deaths caused by vaccines can only be classified as ‘probably related to vaccine or possibly related’ to the immunization.

As you would know, there have been several Pentavalent vaccine related deaths in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Pakistan. Using the WHO approved classification of AEFI many of these deaths are ‘probably related to the immunization’ because no alternate cause for the adverse events has been found. However an expert panel looking at the deaths in Sri Lanka deleted ‘probably related’ and ‘possibly related’ from the classification of Brighton for purposes of their evaluation report, and then certified that the vaccines were ‘unlikely to be due to the vaccines’. This report (Expert Panel Report 23 December 2008 Sri Lanka) is available on the World Wide Web.

One by one the WHO has de-listed a number of brands of pre-qualified Pentavalent vaccine, but the problem has refused to go away. Pentavalent vaccine was introduced in two states in India on 14th December and 17th December 2011, to evaluate the safety of the vaccine in India.

According to an affidavit filed in the Kerala High Court by the Government of Kerala India, there have been four deaths in less than two months since it was introduced in the public health system. For your information the full text of the submission by Kerala government can be accessed here.

The reactions in India suggest that the cause of the problem is unrelated to the brand or manufacturer or lot of the vaccine. It appears to be a form of ‘hypersensitivity reaction’ as described in the post mortem report on one of the children in Kerala.

The vaccine can be administered to many patients without problems and there is no available method at present to predict which infant will react adversely.

The US FDA has pointed out that vaccines are aimed mostly at healthy individuals for prevention of diseases to which an individual may never be exposed. Unlike conventional drug treatments meant for the management of existing disease, in prophylaxis with vaccines, safety is of paramount importance. Vaccines that frequently and unpredictably cause death of healthy children cannot be recommended.

Pentavalent vaccine is at present recommended by WHO and its introduction is supported by Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) funds. Given these circumstances the WHO needs to re-evaluate the recommendations. We propose to copy this letter to countries supporting the GAVI initiative so that they may be able to initiate action in a responsible manner.

Looking forward to your early action in the regard.


1. Dr Jacob Puliyel, Drug Action Forum– Karnataka (DAF-K), New Delhi

2. Dr Mira Shiva, Medico Friend Circle, New Delhi

3. Dr Gopal Dabade, DAF-K, Dharwad

4. Mr Srinivasan. S, LOCOST, Vadodara

5. Mr Naveen Thomas, Headstreams, Bangalore

6. Mr Prasanna Saligram, AID India, Bangalore

7. Dr Anurag Bhargava, JSS, Chattisagarh

March 12, 2012.


Republished here on public interest by courtesy of All-India Drug Action Network

Links:

Pentavalent Vaccines Promoted by WHO Despite Deaths of Healthy Children – Part I, Asia

http://www.dadychery.org/2012/05/01/pentavalent-vaccines-promoted-by-who-despite-deaths/

Tags:

Kerala Health News, Health Research Online, Public Health Kerala, Health News, Kerala Health Service, India Health, Health Department, pentavalent vaccines, Antigen, Paediatric disease, Infant death,

057. Kerala’s Everyday Drink Of Vaccine Cocktails

Kerala’s Everyday Drink Of Vaccine Cocktails

India serves up costly cocktail of vaccines

By Ranjit Devraj

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency,
New Delhi, India.
Saturday, November 9, 2013.

Ignoring widespread concern over the safety, efficacy and cost of pentavalent vaccines, India’s central health ministry has, this month, approved inclusion of the prophylactic cocktail in the universal immunization programme in seven of its provinces.

Pentavalent vaccine doses, a cocktail of five antigens in a single shot, confers immunity against five paediatric diseases – diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type b (Hib), with the last one considered particularly problematic by some experts.

Pentavalents, produced by several manufacturers and promoted by the Global Alliance on Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), has had a history of causing adverse reactions and deaths in India’s neighbouring countries like Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

In 2010, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), a body of experts selected by the Indian government, recommended limited introduction of pentavalents in southern Kerala and Tamil Nadu and evaluation of results over a year before extension to other states.

Pentavalents were launched in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in December 2011, but the results were not encouraging. Kerala recorded four infant deaths following vaccination, with symptoms similar to what were seen in other South Asian countries.

Public health activists in Kerala, a state with 100 percent literacy and human development indices similar to those of advanced Western countries, quickly filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Kerala High Court asking for intervention in having the programme called off and a return to the existing health plan.

But despite infant deaths and two pending PILs (with yet another being heard in the Delhi High Court) against pentavalents, the health ministry announced on Apr. 16 that pentavalents would be introduced in five more states – Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry in October.

In making the decision, the government overlooked the NTAGI, which has not even been convened since August 2010 when the body suggested limited introduction to Kerala and Tamil Nadu as the two states have good adverse event following immunization systems.

“Going by what we have seen in the neighbouring countries and now in the state of Kerala, pentavalents can, without warning, cause children (to suffer) hypersensitivity reactions and death,”

Jacob Puliyel, an eminent paediatrician at St. Stephen’s hospital in New Delhi and member of the NTAGI, told IPS. Puliyel likened the situation to penicillin sensitivity and said it bordered on criminality to be administering pentavalents without first testing a child for hypersensitivity. “Every child that is being given a dose of pentavalent vaccine is a potential victim of the adverse reaction,” he said.

Puliyel was among the many eminent physicians and public health activists in India who wrote to World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Margaret Chan on Apr. 3 asking the health body to “re-evaluate” its recommendation of pentavalent vaccines on the grounds of safety.

Another signatory, Dr Meera Shiva, an expert on pharmaceutical drugs attached to the voluntary Medico Friends Circle, told IPS that WHO had to de-list a number of brands of ‘pre-qualified’ pentavalent vaccine, “but adverse reactions persist and we have surely not heard the last of them.”

The letter to Chan, written under the aegis of the All-India Drug Action Network, an umbrella of public health activist groups, suggested that the cause of the vaccination- related deaths was likely to be “hypersensitivity reaction as described in the post mortem report on one of the children (who died) in Kerala.”

“Unlike conventional drug treatments meant for the management of existing diseases, in prophylaxis with vaccines, safety is of paramount importance. Vaccines that frequently and unpredictably cause the death of healthy children cannot be recommended,” the letter to Chan said.

Policy analysts specializing in vaccines said they were dismayed at the move to approve pentavalents in as many as seven of India’s states, which account for 340 million of India’s 1.2 billion people.

“Pentavalents are a test case for India’s new policy on vaccines that is in keeping with liberalization and openly favours pharmaceutical majors at the cost of India’s public sector vaccine units,” said Madhavi Yennapu, a scientist who specializes in vaccines at the central government’s National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies.

Twenty of India’s 23 public sector vaccination units, once the mainstay of the country’s immunization programme, have been shut down one after another over the last four years on the grounds that the quality of their products was suspect.

Yennapu pointed to the draft National Vaccination Policy, released last year, for clues on why the government has not made any serious attempt to revive the vaccine- manufacturing units by enforcing quality standards, for instance.

The new policy demands that the “risk of manufacturing vaccines by private manufacturers must be cushioned by assistance from (the) government” and suggests that it be made mandatory for the government to support vaccine producers with advance market commitments (AMCs).

Madhavi explained that AMCs provide guaranteed markets for a vaccine even before trials are conducted, with the government committed to paying a supporting minimum price.

“Even if the vaccine turns out to be less efficacious than the existing one the government must honour the AMC by buying the new vaccine at the agreed price.

“This means that AMC funds must be deposited with the World Bank ahead of vaccine delivery by countries that GAVI is supposed to be helping with the introduction of new vaccines,”

Madhavi told IPS:

“Naturally, GAVI would be looking at large countries like India, Brazil and China to provide the AMCs.” For a country like India, what is important is to “see how many vaccines are needed to prevent how many deaths and at what cost, rather than throw out tried and tested vaccines in favour of a cocktail (pentavalent) which not only has doubtful advantages but has been shown to cause adverse reactions,” Madhavi said. According to Madhavi, there is no hard scientific evidence to show that India needs the Hib vaccine .“It is clearly piggybacking on other vaccines and the public made to pay for it.” The existing diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DPT) vaccine costs about 30 cents for all the doses needed to immunize a child, while immunization with pentavalents will cost more than 10 dollars. “We need to ask ourselves if introducing the new vaccine is really worth all the public money being spent on it,” Madhavi said.

Republished here on public interest by courtesy of Inter Press Services

Source: INTER PRESS SERVICE News Agency
Saturday, November 9, 2013

Tags: Kerala Health News, Health Research Online, Public Health Kerala, Health News, Kerala Health Service, India Health, Health Department, pentavalent vaccines, Antigen, Paediatric disease, Infant death,

056. Kerala Health Department Severely Accused By CAG On Account Of Sickle Cell Anaemia

Kerala Health Department Severely Accused By CAG On Account Of Sickle Cell Anaemia

Comptroller and Auditor General of India raps Kerala health department

Sickle Cell Anaemia is an inherited disease characterized by red blood cells that assuming a sickle shape making normal life difficult in later stages of the sickness

Press Trust Of India, Thiruvananthapuram
June 22, 2014

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has expressed concern over the failure of the public health system in Kerala to tackle the prevalence of sickle cell anaemia among the tribal population in Wayanad, home to nearly 31 per cent of Adivasi communities in the state.

According to a recent CAG report, out of the 85 per cent of tribal population screened by health authorities in the district, a total of 706 persons were found to be affected with the disease while 6,992 showed its traits.

Quoting a survey by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) from 2007-08 to 2012-13, it said as many as 312 of those suffering from the "life-long inherited disease" were in the age group of 18-40 and 262 in the school-going age of 5-17.

Sickle Cell Anaemia is an inherited disease characterized by red blood cells that assuming a sickle shape making normal life difficult in later stages of the sickness.

The NRHM had recommended grant of incentives to the school going students to continue their studies and for preferential treatment and temporary and contract jobs to those patients in the age group of 18-40, it said. However, the government and district administration did not initiate steps to implement this, the report said. The report also found fault with the state health department for not completing the disease screening to cover the entire tribal population in the region.

"No special efforts have been made by the Health Department to extend help to the identified patients to lead a normal life," it added.

Republished here on public interest by courtesy of Business Standard Dot Com

Link: http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/cag-raps-kerala-health-department-114062200709_1.html

Tags: Kerala Health News, Health Research Online, Public Health Kerala, Health News, Kerala Health Service, India Health, Health Department, Sickle Cell Anaemia, CAG, NRHM, Adivasi, Wayanad, Tribal

049. Kerala Govt. Abandons Plans To Set Up Drug Manufacturing Units, To Please Bosses.

Kerala Govt. Abandons Plans To Set Up Drug Manufacturing Units, To Please Bosses.

By Special Correspondent

The Kerala Government had announced its desire, not decision, to enter the field of pharmaceutical manufacturing in the year 2012. Even after billions of rupees having flown into the coffers of multi national medicine manufacturing companies, the government has not cared to make common man’s dream come true. It is like the politicians in government, and their bureaucratic counterparts as well, do not like medicine manufacturing units to come up in the public sector, and the large corporates who contribute handsomely to their election funds and their children’s educational funds loose their huge sales in Kerala. Their loyalty is to large pharmaceutical companies, not to people or government. And they could not or did ever care to persuade these companies to stop extracting unrealistically high prices for life-saving drugs or refrain from withdrawing low-priced good drugs from the market. 

Even in 2013, the Government of Kerala was said to have been giving serious consideration to proposals for setting up drug manufacturing plants in the state, as was revealed in the health minister’s speech in the Emerging Kerala Global Connect Meet 2012, which in itself was an utter farce. Multi-faceted and many dimensional growth was assured in Kerala’s health sector by many participants but when they learned that it is not easy to cheat and lure the highly politicized people of Kerala as they do in states likes Bihar, these aspiring entrepreneurs suddenly vanished. Government’s declaration to set up state-owned drug manufacturing units today seems like a threat sent to large medicine manufacturers: ‘We are going to start; come up and pay’- which was it. If not, why did they defeat in every way the two dependable medicine manufacturing plants already functioning in Kerala, owned by the very government? 

The Pharmaceutical Corporation of Kerala Ltd for Indigenous Medicine, marketing medicines under the brand name of Oushadhi, was started even before India gained independence from the British. Started in 1941 as Sree Kerala Varma Ayurveda Pharmacy by the Maharaja of Cochin, it became a registered co-operative society in 1959 and then in 1975 was registered under the Indian Companies Act and renamed as The Pharmaceutical Corporation (Indian Medicines) Kerala Ltd, Thrissur. It has modern manufacturing units, regional distribution units, a full-fledged Research and Development Centre and a wide distribution network. It hands over crores of rupees to government each year as dividend. But, when the question of procuring medicines for government came, they were pushed back far, to stand behind large private companies. Politicians and bureaucrats in government are suffocating this company on the hope that it would vanish for ever and clear the field for favourite private companies.

The Kerala State Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a Public Sector Undertaking fully owned by the Government of Kerala, ‘has been manufacturing and supplying essential and life saving allopathic medicines to cater to the need of the common patients resorting to Government Hospitals in the State of Kerala’ since 1974. It is self-revealing to analyze how much they are favoured while procuring medicines for the state-owned Kerala State Medical Service Corporation. When the government directly purchased medicine from manufacturers in the past, this public sector unit still had a hope. When government established this particular corporation for procurement of medicine for government, good public sector companies lost all hope. This corporation with its undemocratic bureaucratic haughtiness has been favouring only private companies and has been behaving so from the first. When government directly purchased medicine, there indeed had been corruption by purchasing committees and directors of health services had been charge-sheeted with corruption, but corruption had been comparatively lower and transparency higher when compared with this corporation. It is not illogical to doubt if this corporation was set up to monopolize corruption in drug purchasing in Kerala.

The original news, announcing Kerala government’s decision to enter drug manufacturing field is here, as reported by Pharma Biz.

Kerala Govt. Planning To Set Up Drug Mfg. Units In Public Sector.

By Pharma Biz

Joseph Alexander, New Delhi
Thursday, October 25, 2012

Kerala, which is heavily dependent on other States for medicines, is weighing the options to set up manufacturing plants in the public sector on the lines of the central public sector pharmaceutical manufacturing units to make drugs affordable and accessible.

Kerala which accounts for more than 10 per cent of the national consumption of medicines has only a few manufacturing units to cater to the demand. Out of the 10,000 licensed manufacturing units in the country, the State may have only a few dozens of units, making it almost fully dependent on the other States, a senior official of the State Health Department told Pharma Biz.

“The Government is considering a proposal for setting up drug manufacturing plants in the public sector to make drugs affordable. Detailed modalities were being worked out and feasibility studies were being done. The working and profitability of the central public sector manufacturing units were also being examined to work out a model for the State,” he said.

The State also is weighing options like going for public-private partnership model. The objective is to make available quality healthcare to all at affordable costs, he said, adding that the State has already taken a number of initiatives to bring down the prices of medicines.

“We have a better distribution system with State-run stores to make affordable the drugs. However, the main problem now is the supply side and many were advocating the entry of the government to produce the medicines,” he said.

Referring to the Clinical Establishment Act which was already implemented by many States following the passage of the Bill by the Union Government, he said the State has initiated steps to formulate laws and adopt the same in the State with a view to improving the quality of care to patients by regulating hospitals and laboratories.

Link: http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=71823&sid=1

Republished here by courtesy of Pharma Biz Dot Com

046. When Did Kerala Health Qualify For Central Grant For Total Automation?

When Did Kerala Health Qualify For Central Grant For Total Automation?

By Special Correspondent

The Department of Health, Kerala, in their Face Book page dated 24th January 2013, announced that they won a grant for total automation of the department. There was no mention of the amount involved or what specific uses the amount of this grant was ordered to be put into, as if it is their private pleasure and right to hide specific information from people and use this grant at their will. First we shall read here their own article from their Face Book. Do not mind the language and grammar, for it represents only the person going to benefit most from this ‘grant’. 

Then we shall look into the Face Book Set Up of this department to see how current, updated and sophisticated they are to receive such India Government grants for total automation. To tell the truth, they do not qualify for it. A screen shot of their page on April 05, 2014 denotes that they are 8 months back in digital updatedness and that they are not skilled and resourceful enough to control such elaborate e-health governance for an entire state, unless they outsource everything which is what they really wish to do. If they outsource it as is evidenced from this article, it is illegal and against the interests of the people. It seems this is going to become a sequel to the ill famous solar scam, involving perhaps the same kind of people. The government is quite unwilling to disclose the names of the people who ‘expressed their interest’ to participate in the various projects likely to come up in connection with the implementation of e-health in Kerala. Even then they ‘won’ a Union Government grant for total automation. How did this happen and which powers were behind it?

Their article which is reproduced here is just a blabbering of the uninformed and the uncaring in the health field of Kerala, knowing nothing about e-governance or electronic health informatics, interested only in the securing of funds from all possible sources and spending it at their will. They care nothing about people’s health or the privacy and confidentiality of people’s health data or government servants’ accountability. If what they say on doing things in the name of e-health is to be believed to be going to happen actually, they either intend to ignore the legalities of accessibility to health data, protection of health data, citizens’ rights to privacy and confidentiality of their sensitive health data and international guide lines for sharing patient data, or they think they can simply bypass these by sheer criminality. Certainly the health minister of Kerala, a politician who proclaims to know everything under the sun, the political parties of Kerala who assume the role of keeping suspicious views of everything, the various scientific, civil and human rights organizations who pretend to know about every law in the world and interfere in almost everything and the news media in Kerala who report every involvement above five lakhs rupees as scams, did not speak a word against this involvement which is sure to affect the life of every man, woman and child in Kerala. They all will have their piece of the pie, or their relatives or favourites will have it. Violating international chapters on safeguarding sensitive patient data, the people involved in e-health finance and administration in Kerala, are going to enlist private parties and outsource sensitive works to them, at the risk of data loss, theft and manipulation. If there are investigating agencies in Kerala, it is time they begin. 

Note that when it was assured that a considerable amount of money would be allotted by the Union Government, there were a rush of activities. Pages were opened in DHS and NRHM websites, news released to news papers and television channels and articles were posted in Face Book. When the money actually came to Trivandrum, it all stopped; there were no more updating or information release, ever. From then onwards, everything became secret and silent, till the alert and vigilant Treasuries Officers began to turn down e-health bills for enormous amounts.

Department of Health, Government of Kerala. Face Book Article On 24 January 2013. 

Health department Kerala was won a project grant from the Department of IT (DeITY) Government of India for total automation of the department. This will have three arms: automation of demographic data indexed on UID, State Data Centre (where all individual data would be stored) linked to all health institutions and accessed by field workers through a 3G enbled tablets and hospital automation. The field workers will digitise the family health register where each individual will be identified by UID. This data would be sent to the state data centre (SDC) through the Kerala State Wide Area Network (KSWAN). The field worker will be able to down load the demographic data she needs for her planned work for the data and be able to update the individual data at the SDC with new data generated (immunisation, Blood Pressure data) during her work for the day.

When the person visits any government health institution this data would be downloaded to the local server of the institution. This would be available at the OP, Consultation room, pharmacy, lab etc. It will contain alerts for the physician, pharmacist and other staff such as pre-existing condition, specific allergies etc. The communication between different parts of the hospital (e.g: Cinician and laboratory or Ward Nurse and Pharmacy) will be through the system. At the time of discharge an abstract will go back to update the data at the SDC.

Our aim to develop an Electronic Health Record for every citizen of the state. Once it is stablised the private sector may also be invited to participate. The project aims to make data available for planning, research and for individuals to manage their own health. Government of India sees this as a pilot project to apply IT to ensuring Universal Health Coverage in the country. 

The challenge is to develop good Functional Requirement Specifications. Our teams are on this task now.

Screen Shot of Department of Health, Kerala’s Face Book page. See how current they are:

041. Prevent Dengue With These 10 Practical Tips.

Prevent Dengue With These 10 Practical Tips.

By Health India. Com

Pavitra Sampath
July 10, 2013

With the monsoon come various diseases, and one of the most severe one is dengue. Also known as ‘break bone fever’ it is a painful and debilitating disease spread by mosquitoes. Caused due to the bite of an infected female aedes aegypti mosquito, the disease can be fatal. 

Once bitten, it takes about four to ten days for the symptoms to show. The most common symptoms are high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands, muscle and joint pain and in some cases a rash. The more severe forms of dengue are hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. There is no clear treatment for the condition nor is there a vaccine against it, so the best way is to prevent the disease from occurring at all. Here are a few simple and practical tips to keep dengue at bay: 

Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are known to bite humans during the day and their most common breeding grounds are man made containers. Therefore, it is advisable to not have any stagnant water around. Remember to clean out empty flower pots and not to over water potted plants. If the container that contains water cannot be emptied, remember to cover it well when not in use. 

Turn over empty pails and buckets, so that they do not collect excess water.

Use mosquito repellants regularly. Apply it well on all exposed areas, during the day as well as at night.

Make sure your window and door screens do not have any holes. If so, block those areas properly to eliminate mosquitoes.

If someone at home is ill with dengue, try to not let the mosquitoes bite them or others in the house.

Always sleep under a mosquito net.

If you use a cooler remember to empty out and clean the water tray regularly, even when not in use.

Always cover your trash can when not in use.

A natural method to keep mosquitoes at bay is to plant Tulsi near your window. The plant has properties that do not allow mosquitoes to breed. 

Using camphor as a repellant also works wonders. Light camphor in a room and close all the doors and windows. Leave it this way for about fifteen to twenty minutes to have a mosquito-free environment. 

Dengue is a completely preventable condition, all you have to do is take a few steps to keep yourself and your family safe. 

Link: http://health.india.com/diseases-conditions/prevent-dengue-with-these-10-practical-tips/

Reproduced here by courtesy of Health India. Com

Comment:

Platelet count in dengue:

How many numbers of platelets are present in blood after being affected by dengue? If the count of platelets decrease, will it lead to dengue?

Normal platelet count in a healthy adult is 140,000-400,000 platelets/cubic mm of blood. When infected with dengue virus, our body’s capacity to produce new platelets is affected. Platelet count starts decreasing below normal. Dengue is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes from one human to another. So, the only way it can really be prevented is by avoiding mosquito bites. Low platelet count per se does not cause dengue.

040. Molecular Diagnostic Kits For Chikungunya And Dengue Tests Coming.

HLL forays into molecular diagnostics with dengue, chikungunya test kits. 

By Pharma Biz  

New Delhi Bureau,
August 08, 2012

Kerala-based HLL Lifecare Limited, a mini ratna public sector undertaking with diversified business, will foray into molecular diagnostics area with a duplex test kit for chikungunya and dengue tests. The new multiplex molecular diagnostic kit, based on PCR (polymerase chain reaction), was developed by HLL in collaboration with the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, also based in Thiruvananthapuram, said a release here.

Currently, HLL Life Care is in a tie-up with Kerala State Institute for Virology and Infectious Diseases, under the state government’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Department, for third-party validation of the diagnostic kits. The product will be launched in the market very soon. “This kit comes as the latest offering from our portfolio to ease the burden of the common man,” said HLL chairman and managing director, Dr. M. Ayyappan. The new product would facilitate conduct of the test with large through-put screening for management of diseases. It is going to be a handy tool in screening of patients on a large scale basis in an affordable manner, he said.

The 1966-founded HLL, the leading manufacturer of condoms, is strong-footed in the diagnostic business with its Hind Labs that provide a complete range of path lab services. The company is planning to extend the facility for other viral platforms as well. HLL has a factory located at Manesar in Haryana, exclusively catering to the manufacturing of in-vitro diagnostic test kits. This unit had started with manufacture of pregnancy test kits and is currently into production of kits for dengue and malaria, among other infectious diseases.

The epidemic of chikungunya continues to resurface in the country every year, especially during the monsoon season. In 2010, as many as 48,176 clinically suspected cases were reported from 18 states/union territories (135 districts), according to the figures from the Planning Commission. Likewise, dengue is endemic to 31 states and UTs. In 2006, the country witnessed an outbreak of the disease with 12,317 cases and 184 deaths, from 270 districts. In 2010, a total of 28,292 cases and 110 deaths reported from 403 districts, recording the highest number in the last two decades. 

Link: http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=70525&sid=1


Reproduced here by courtesy of Pharma Biz. Com