Influenza Vaccine Production Capacity Building in Developing Countries: Example of the Serum Institute of India

It is predicted that in case of an influenza pandemic, there will be a significant gap between potentially available vaccine supply and international demand. This paved the way for a WHO Global Pandemic Influenza Action Plan (GAP) aiming at increasing the world's production capacity for pandemic vaccine. In November 2006, six developing country manufacturers were awarded grants either to develop processes for production of inactivated or live attenuated seasonal and/or H5N1 influenza vaccines or for establishing filling facilities using imported antigens. In April 2009, spread of a new H1N1 influenza virus was identified which took a pandemic form. This paper gives an overview of influenza vaccine capacity building of developing country's manufacturers identified in WHO's GAP. Further, an account of developments at Serum Institute of India Limited (SIIL), one of recipients of WHO grant to develop pandemic influenza vaccine, are presented as a case study. Such initiatives have strengthened developing country vaccine manufacturers ability to respond to a pandemic situation in the future.