India's First qHPV Vaccine against Cervical Cancer

• 14 Jul 2022

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted market authorisation to Serum Institute of India (SII) to manufacture indigenously-developed India's first Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) against cervical cancer.

• Cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age with a high death ratio in India.
• The government advisory panel NTAGI had recently also approved the qHPV after reviewing the clinical trial data of the vaccine.
• The qHPV vaccine CERVAVAC has demonstrated robust antibody response that is nearly 1,000 times higher than the baseline against all targeted HPV types and in all dose and age groups.

About Cervical Cancer

• Cervical cancer is a type of cancer that takes place in cervix — the lower part of the uterus that connects to the vagina.
• It's not exactly known what causes cervical cancer, but human papillomavirus (HPV) definitely plays a role.
• Most cervical cancer cases are caused by the sexually transmitted HPV.
• There are about 100 different strains of HPV. Only certain types cause cervical cancer. The two types that most commonly cause cancer are HPV-16 and HPV-18."
• This means that being infected with HPV does not necessarily mean you have cervical cancer.

Importance of qHPV

• Every year, 122,844 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 67,477 die from the disease.
• Presently our country is fully dependent on foreign manufacturers for the HPV vaccine.
• With the introduction of qHPV vaccine CERVAVAC, several lives could be saved with low cost treatment.