State-run Company for Vaccine and Biological Production No. 1 (Vabiotech) will export 10,000 doses of its made-in-Vietnam oral cholera vaccines to the Philippines, marking the company’s second overseas vaccine shipment to date. In Vietnam, about 200,000 doses are used annually under the national expanded immunization program to prevent cholera in vulnerable areas, said the company’s Director Do Tuan Dat. Vabiotech earlier had a plan to export Japanese encephalitis (JE) B vaccine to India, marking the first made-in-Vietnam vaccine to be sold abroad. In 2013, Vabiotech acquired rights to Inviragen’s proprietary JE technology to produce a cell-derived vaccine. Vietnam is able to produce 12 different types of vaccine for 10 out of 12 diseases covered by the national expanded on immunization program. In the coming year, domestic vaccine manufacturers will focus on researching and developing multifunctional vaccines, according to the Department of Pharmaceutical Management. (VietnamPlus Dec 26)
