MULTINATIONALS AND GLOBAL VACCINE MARKET

Vaccine development is also heavily science-and- technology-driven, especially since the advent of genetic engineering and biotechnology in the 1980s. Although vaccines form only 2 per cent of the $8 billion global pharmaceutical industry, they account for the largest share in the development of biologicals, and the amount spent on worldwide R&D on vaccines is about $2 billion. This area is dominated by multinationals such as GlaxoSmithKline Beecham, Merck, Aventis Pasteur (formerly Pasteur-Merieux Connaught), Chiron Behringer and Hoechst, and given the huge worldwide market, vaccine-related technologies are tightly held by them. Given the high disease burden in developing countries, many of these operate through the global immunisation programmes and initiatives of world bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to gain access to these markets.

The current Indian market for human vaccines is estimated to be around Rs.1,000 crore and is projected to grow at about 25 per cent. Naturally, the multinationals will not part with the technologies for love or money. Moreover, there are diseases such as leprosy, malaria and TB that afflict only developing countries, and the multinationals do not see it profitable to invest in developing vaccines or drugs for these. Indeed, tropical diseases account for a mere 5 per cent of the global health R&D. The role of domestic R&D and technology base in the area of vaccines assume great importance, particularly in the publicly funded institutions, if we wish to keep costs low and make vaccines affordable.