India vaccine breakthrough
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2004:
BANGALORE–A new anti-rabies vaccine “developed by the
Indian Institute of Science, which promises to reduce rabies
prevention costs by nearly 75%, has been cleared for commercial use
on pet dogs and other animals by the Drug Controller of India,” T.A.
Johnson of The Times of India reported on May 16.
“Based on a novel hybrid of a DNA recombinant vaccine and
cell culture vaccine, the new vaccine will be produced and marketed
by Indian Immunologicals under the name Dinarab,” Johnson said.
But IIS scientist P. Rangarajan cautioned that although
Dinarab has been successfully tested on monkeys and mice, it has
not yet been approved for trials in humans and “will take a while
before reaching the market.”
Meant to be used mainly as a post-exposure treatment by
public health clinics, Dinarab may alleviate chronic shortages of
post-exposure vaccines in India, associated with lack of reliable
refrigeration plus problems in manufacture and transport.