ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: The national vaccine development task force (VDTF) has asked the government to revamp the fledgling vaccine production facility of the National Institute of Health (NIH) to meet current and future needs of essential vaccine development in the country, an official source told Dawn.
The VDTF, recently appointed by Minister Incharge for Science and Technology Prof Dr Attaur Rehman, has also recommended formation of an overseeing committee of technical experts to help the NIH in vaccine production.
The task force in its recommendations has suggested improvement in the general management structure of the vaccine development units at the NIH.
In a recent presentation, a member of the VDTF informed Dr Ata that the NIH was only producing three classic EPI antigen — oral polio vaccine, measles and tetanus toxoid — to a limited extent while the national requirements were far greater than the local production.
It was stated that other EPI vaccines, like tuberculosis, DPT and hepatitis, were not produced in the public sector despite the fact that the NIH was established in 1980 to make Pakistan self- sufficient in EPI and non-EPI vaccines. But even today, its potential viability was only 53 per cent.
The VDTF has also recommended a significant increase in the manpower to oversee vaccine production at the NIH by hiring a first-rate scientist and manager on special contract.
It recommended establishment of formal linkages of the NIH with research institutes and academia working in basic sciences and molecular biology research.
It has asked for provisions of resources to revamp equipment and reactivate existing facilities for vaccine production, like human rabies vaccine, etc.
Noting that the fiscal control and management processes at the NIH were too cumbersome for a priority task, it suggested to the government to allocate special funds in addition to the NIH vaccine production budget with the requisite flexibility and autonomy of operations.
The task force has asked the government to initiate a formal and comprehensive costing exercise to evaluate the fiscal costs of revitalizing the vaccine production facilities to modern GMP (good manufacturing practices) standards.
Active promotion of industrial partnership should also be encouraged, it said, adding that there had been several overtures by multinationals to the NIH in the past. Therefore, the offer of collaboration by multinationals with the NIH should be encouraged.
The VDTF has also highlighted the scope of establishing government-to-government linkages with countries like China or Cuba, saying that the possibility of joint ventures should be actively explored at the ministerial level.
About the private sector vaccine production, the VDTF recommended to encourage the national industry to increase investments in vaccine research and development, especially in areas where the public sector is not currently developing vaccines or was unable to meet the national demands. These include hepatitis B, typhoid vaccine, human rabies vaccine, etc.
The task force has also asked for appropriate regulatory and support environment to protect national investments for vaccine production.
Incentives should also be given for the development of this sector like tax rebates, sharing financial burden and technology transfer rights, royalties, loan on soft terms, social incentives for export business and training incentives to technical staff.
Active public-private partnership in this field should also be promoted, it said, adding that there was a strong need for advocacy and information dissemination to the private sector on the need and benefits of investments in vaccines and biologicals in Pakistan.