Good news! SII in talks with Novovax to develop vaccine against monkeypox, says Adar Poonawalla

NEW DELHI: Amid growing concerns over rising cases of monkeypox in the country, Serum Institute of India’s CEO Adar Poonawalla on Tuesday said he is in talks with Novovax to develop a vaccine against the fast-spreading Monkeypox disease. The SII CEO also said that he is also exploring the possibility of importing a smallpox vaccine in bulk in an emergency situation. Poonawalla added that the SII is in talks with Novovax to develop a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for monkeypox soon

Sharing more details, Poonawalla said smallpox vaccines from Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic could be made available in India in three months. He expressed confidence that SII has the capacity to bulk manufacture smallpox vaccines under license. 

Poonawalla also said as a vaccine manufacturer equipped with technological know-how, he is now looking at talking to partners and the SII is in talks with Novovax to see whether there will be a lot of demand or whether in three to four months it fizzles out. 

Amid all this, the Bihar Health Department detected a suspected case of monkeypox in Patna`s Gurhatta locality on Tuesday. The victim is a woman and a team of health officials have collected her samples for testing. According to an official, the woman has all symptoms of monkeypox and is currently under home isolation.

"We have taken the samples of the patient and sent them for testing. She is under home isolation now and a team is monitoring her health," he said.

Previously, one case of monkeypox had been detected in Delhi and three in Kerala. Therefore, Bihar`s Health Department is on high alert and has asked medical and nursing staff, ANMs (auxiliary nurses and midwives), and Asha workers to be prepared.

The nurses, midwives and Asha workers were specially asked to keep a tab on high-density areas and inform the department as soon as symptoms of the disease is detected in any patient.

The World Health Organisation has declared monkeypox a global health emergency after over 16,000 cases of infection appeared across 65 countries. Monkeypox is either transmitted from animals to humans or from human to human. The virus generally enters the human body through mouth, nose, eyes and skin lesions of an infected person.