US's FluMist can now be administered by a healthcare provider or by recipient or caregiver aged 18 or above. India's Nasovac S4 faces hurdles like cost, availability & low acceptance.
MenFive targets 5 causes of meningococcal meningitis, a bacterial infection that can kill within hours. It can cause severe brain damage and sepsis, and is fatal in 50% cases if untreated.
The Serum Institute of India & Department of Biotechnology are set to launch the country's first indigenously developed Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine against cervical cancer.
Pune-based SII has got the go-ahead from the Drugs Controller General of India to market the vaccine. Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of female cancer mortality worldwide.
Cervical cancer in India is the 2nd most frequent cancer among women between 15-44 years of age. Currently, India is fully dependent on foreign manufacturers for the vaccine.
The SII will commence Covid vaccine export under the COVAX programme from 23 November. Nepal, Tajikistan, Mozambique and Bangladesh are the 4 nations that will receive the doses.
SII's Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs is learnt to have recently communicated to Union Health Ministry that it has a manufactured stock of 24,89,15,000 Covishield doses.
For an industry globally classified as hazardous, protections such as health insurance and a provident fund for workers are necessities. In Sivakasi, they remain elusive.
The industry forecasts exports are set to grow 16% in 2025-26, boosted by surplus domestic production and a drive to push into 26 underserved global markets with strong potential.
Indigenisation level will progressively increase up to 60 percent with key sub-assemblies, electronics and mechanical parts being manufactured locally.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
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