The Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) under the Department of Health Research and the
Department of Health and Family Welfare of the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), GOIsigned
a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today with theInternational
Vaccine Institute (IVI), South Korea to collaborate on vaccine
research and development. The MOU will also strengthen the relationship
between IVI and India.
The MOU was signed
between Soumya Swaminathan, Director General of ICMR &
Secretary, Department of Health Research; Manoj Jhalani,
Additional Secretary & Managing Director, National Health Mission
and Jerome H. Kim, Director General of IVI.
With a long history of
scientific collaboration with IVI, India officially became a signatory to the treaty of the Seoul-based international
organization in 2012. IVI has 35 signatory countries. With
this partnership, India is committing an annual contribution of US $5,00,000 to
IVI and joins Sweden and South Korea as financially contributing signatories to
IVI.
IVI has been partnering with
Indian vaccine manufacturers, research institutes, government, and public
health agencies on vaccine development, research, and training. One of the most
successful collaborations was with Shantha Biotech on the development of
Shanchol, the world’s first low-cost oral cholera vaccine. The vaccine
was licensed in India in 2009 and WHO-prequalified in 2011. IVI
successfully collaborated with health authorities in Odisha State to
introduce the oral cholera vaccine for the first time in India in 2011. In
addition, IVI has collaborated with the National
Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata on research and
training projects, including the establishment of a vaccine evaluation lab at
NICED.
The partnership will promote
further collaborative research activities and training programs between India
and IVI and will ensure IVI achieves its goal of improving health outcomes for
the world’s poor by improving vaccine access. It will also accelerate capacity-building
initiatives that will synergize with and benefit India’s vaccine industry,
public health and immunization programs.
IVI has successful partnerships
with international organizations like WHO andGavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
These partnerships are used to ensure adequate production of vaccines,
stockpile and prequalification of vaccines.
On the occasion, Dr.
Jerome H. Kim, Director General of IVI, said, “India is a
vaccine industry powerhouse that supplies 60% of the world's
vaccines for vaccine preventable diseases and 60-80% of annual
UN vaccine purchases(2012). The signing of the MoU is a
continuation of our partnership with India to provide safe, effective and
affordable vaccines for people around the world. With this agreement, India once
again shows its capacity for leadership in global health, and we hope this
action will add significant momentum to IVI's drive for greater support in the
world community. We look forward to having India’s representation on the IVI
Board of Trustees which will increase engagement with Indian academia and
industry even further.”
Dr. Soumya Swaminathan,
Director General of ICMR, said, “We have been working
closely with IVI in India for more than a decade now. We are confident that
this collaboration will elevate the vaccine R&D capacity at IVI as well as
Indian labs and further benefit India’s vaccine industry."
