Indian vaccine makers grab market share from MNCs

A slow but discernible change is visible in the usually staid vaccine market. Indian companies including Serum Institute of India (SII), Biological E and Bharat Biotech are cornering a wider share, growing month on month in an otherwise sluggish industry.

Significantly, for the first time perhaps, indigenously-manufactured vaccines have started snatching share from MNCs in certain diseases even as the Rs 3,000 crore private )market plummeted sharply by 15% in June month-on-month, one of the sharpest such declines in recent years.

Vaccination in India is largely focused on the pediatric population, with adult immunization mostly non-existent. The government-run `Universal Immunization Programme’ targets around 27 million newborns and 29 million pregnant women annually, offering jabs free of cost against a dozen vaccine-preventable diseases as part of the public market. The public market refers to government-run programmes.

The growth in domestic vaccines is due to multiple reasons including the shift of private sector demand to the public health delivery system. This has been aided by the expansion in the basket of vaccines offered under the national immunization programme (NIP).

Over the years, UIP has been widening the portfolio by including even ``high-value’’ vaccines, and those which were earlier the exclusive domain of MNCs. For instance, the programme offers vaccines against rota-virus diarrhoea and pneumococcal disease, while the HPV vaccine is expected to be added soon.

``Initially, MNCs had the first-mover advantage and a monopoly in certain vaccines. Having invested in quality and research, domestic players strengthened the pipeline and are now picking up steam and launching versions”, an industry observer told TOI.

Earlier, Rotavirus, Pneumococcal and HPV vaccines were supplied only by MNCs. With domestic players like SII, Bio E and Bharat Biotech upgrading their pipelines and launching versions, the national immunization programme has been able to widen the basket.

Typically, domestic players are able to bag government orders due to the inherent price advantage as they are indigenously manufactured, whereas MNCs import their vaccines.

``Due to the growing popularity of the national immunization programme, the private market demand is shrinking, which has impacted sales of Synflorix (GSK) and Prevnar (Pfizer), given to prevent invasive diseases caused by pneumococcal bacteria such as pneumonia and meningitis’’, an executive with a domestic player said.

For instance, the shift is noticeable in the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), available in the private market for around Rs 3500, while it is free at public health centres across the country since 2021. A similar shift was witnessed in the rotavirus a few years back, when the market moved from the private clinics to public immunization centres.