After press reports flagged the possibility of an inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) shortage in India, Sanofi says it's ready to supply the nation with a newly approved shot.
Thursday, after the company gained an approval for a new polio vaccine, IMOVAX-Polio, Sanofi issued an assurance that it will be able to keep providing sufficient supplies. The developments come quickly on the heels of an Economic Times report alleging that a shortage crisis was looming following Sanofi’s decision to shut down certain vaccine manufacturing operations in the country.
Last September, Sanofi revealed plans to discontinue its previous polio shot in India.
Still, to hear Sanofi tell it, India shouldn’t be concerned.
The company’s local branch remains “dedicated to supporting India’s public health program for polio,” a Sanofi India spokesperson told Fierce Pharma on Thursday. “To ensure that there is no interruption to the availability of IPV vaccines, we have already obtained approvals for our product IMOVAX-Polio,” she added.
Regarding the company’s decision to discontinue its previous polio shot, Sanofi India’s spokesperson pointed to the rapidly shifting healthcare environment in the country following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amid rising demand for production capacity in India, Sanofi last year opted to discontinue its older polio shot. The company's spokesperson noted that the shot was only filled and packaged at the company’s factory in Hyderabad, while the antigens themselves were manufactured in France.
Sanofi and its Indian affiliate Shantha Biotechnics pledged to supply polio vaccines for India’s universal immunization program through UNICEF back in 2015.
Sanofi got its hands on Shantha in 2009 when the French drugmaker’s vaccine division agreed to pay 550 million euros ($784 million) for the Merieux Alliance’s controlling stake in the Indian shot maker.
Elsewhere in India, Sanofi last week called on local drugmakers Cipla and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to help sell its central nervous system (CNS) drugs and vaccines in country.
Cipla is slated to market six Sanofi CNS medicines, including the leading epilepsy therapy Frisium, which Sanofi will continue to own, import and manufacture.
Dr. Reddy’s, for its part, is on deck to sell five Sanofi vaccines in the country.