India's first indigenously developed quadrivalent Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine for the prevention of cervical cancer will be launched in a few months and made available to the people in an affordable price range of Rs 200-400, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Thursday.
On the sideline of an event here to announce the scientific completion of the Desi vaccine, Poonawalla told reporters, " First the vaccine would be made available through the government channel and from next year onwards some private partners would be involved too”.
Poonawalla also said that a plan to make 200 million doses is in place and first the vaccine would be given in India and only after the needs of the country are fulfilled it will be exported to other countries.
The cervical cancer vaccine will be affordable and would be available in the range of Rs 200-400. However, the final price will be decided after detailed discussions with the government, he said.
"The vaccine would be much much less in price as compared to other vaccines for cervical cancer,” he said, adding that it will be launched by the end of the year.
Earlier, speaking at the event, Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said the vaccine will be affordable and the government will ensure that it is accessible to the common man.
Scientific completion implies that R&D activities pertaining to the vaccine are complete and now the next step of making them available to the public would take place.