World's largest vaccine maker Serum Institute sees demand doubling in 5 yrs

Serum Institute of India Pvt. is expanding its production capacity as it expects sales of life-saving vaccines, including those for malaria and cervical cancer, to double in the next five years. The world’s largest vaccine maker currently has the capacity to produce 3 billion doses of all types of vaccines each year, but only sells about 1.5 billion doses annually. The Pune-based firm is forecasting that will change. “As countries increase their health-care budgets, you’re going to see a huge uptake of vaccines that can prevent a lot of diseases,” Serum’s Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said in an interview with Bloomberg TV for an upcoming episode of Latitude with Haslinda Amin. “Vaccines have been proven to be the most efficient tool for prevention.” He is particularly bullish about the outlook for the company’s new vaccines for malaria and cervical cancer. It has the capacity to produce 100 million doses of each, he said. Demand for the malaria vaccine is slowly picking up as countries in Africa plan and prepare for its arrival. Serum shipped the first batch of the vaccine, dubbed ‘R21/Matrix-M,’ to Africa in May. It’s the second malaria shot authorized for children in the world, according to a company statement.