Shanta Biotechnic chief fumes at Indian bureaucracy- Oman  

(MENAFN - Bahrain Tribune) Creator of the world's cheapest Hepatitis B vaccine, Shanvac-B, and India's bio-tech major, Shanta Biotechnic Limited has found itself in a quandary.

Ten full years after making the major discovery with the help of Omani investors and taking it to the nook and corner of the world, the Indian Government is yet to include Shanvac-B in the national immunisation schedule even as the World Health Organisation (WHO) was negotiating with the Hyderabad-based company to bring down the price to help the third world countries.

Shantha Biotech's managing director K.I. Varaprasada Reddy yesterday aired his displeasure at the non-inclusion of the much sought-after vaccine in India's national immunisation project and blamed it on 'bureacratic apathy'. Incidentally, he was conferred the third highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan, by the Indian Government as a recognition for the invention.
The company celebrated the completion of a decade of the invention of 'Shanvac-B' yesterday.

It is the first Indian Hepatitis-B vaccine to be pre-qualified by WHO, Geneva, for supplying to UN agencies globally and the company caters to major international markets including Asia-Pacific, Africa, CIS and Latin America in addition to supra nations like UNICEF and PAHO. Reddy said, Indian bureaucrats were clueless about the strides made by the vaccine the world over, referring to the recent announcement by Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramdoss on the immunisation schedule, wherein there was no mention of the mono-Hep-B vaccine.

"Nothing has changed in 10 years. If at all the company has flourished, it is due to the WHO, which pre-qualified the drug and took it to the world. When thousands of children benefited from the vaccine elsewhere, Indian children are not lucky enough."

With investors from the Sultanate of Oman playing a crucial role in the discovery, the fledgling company received a big boost in its struggling days with the entry of Yusuf Bin Alawi Abdullah, the then Foreign Minister of Sultanate of Oman. He invested in the company along with friends as co-promoters in 1995 and also arranged for long-term loans from Oman International bank at low rates of interest, leading to the major discovery in 1997.

French healthcare company Merieux Alliance acquired the majority shareholding - 60 per cent stake - in the company last November from the Oman-based investors for an undisclosed amount. While 50 per cent belonged to the group of Omanis, the other 10 per cent belonged to a non-resident Indian who invested at the time of the company's inception.

In 10 years of its existence in the global market, the cost of Shanvac-B came down by 40 times while consumption went up by 100 times while Shantha won more than 100 awards for its discovery so far.

The company had released a new combination vaccine of DPT+Hepatitis-B vaccine recently, after obtaining a WHO-Geneva Pre-qualification, enabling supplies to UN Agencies.