CERVAVAC | IAS GYAN

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Context

The Serum Institute of India (SII)’s vaccine Cervavac recently received the Drugs Controller General of India’s (DGCI) approval for market authorization.

About Cervavac

Cervavac is India’s first quadrivalent human papillomavirus vaccine (qHPV) vaccine, and intended to protect women against cervical cancer.

What is HPV?

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract. Most sexually active women and men get infected at some point and some may even get repeatedly infected. More than 90 percent of the infected population eventually clears the infection.
Cervical cancer is by far the most common HPV-related disease. Almost all cases of cervical cancer can be attributed to HPV infection.

HPV vaccine

Human papillomavirus vaccines are vaccines that prevent infection by certain types of human papillomavirus. Available HPV vaccines protect against either two, four, or nine types of HPV. All HPV vaccines protect against at least HPV types 16 and 18, which cause the greatest risk of cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is a common sexually transmitted infection. Long-lasting infection with certain types of HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer.

World Scenario

Worldwide, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer type and the second most common cause of cancer death in women of reproductive age (15–44).

India

India accounts for about a fifth of the global burden, with 1.23 lakh cases and around 67,000 deaths per year according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO).
Cervical cancer is a leading cancer among women, with about 132,000 cases annually and 74,000 deaths in India, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). India contributes 17 percent of the world’s population but shares more than a quarter of the global cervical cancer burden.

Concerns

Screening and vaccination are two powerful tools that are available for preventive cervical cancer. Still there is little awareness among women for prevention of this cancer and less than 10% of Indian women get screened. All women aged 30-49 must get screened for cervical cancer even if they have no symptoms.
Although HPV vaccination was introduced in 2008, it has yet to be included in the national immunisation programme.
Cervical cancer is preventable, but kills one woman every eight minutes in the country. But it is preventable as long as it is detected early and managed effectively.

The new vaccine

The HPV vaccine, Cervavac, manufactured by Serum Institute, is made on the recombinant technology platform. It is said to be effective against four strains of the Human Papillomavirus virus - Type 6, Type 11, Type 16 and Type 18.
The vaccine is based on VLP (virus like particles), similar to the hepatitis B vaccine, and provides protection by generating antibodies against the HPV virus’s L1 protein.

VLP

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are multiprotein structures that mimic the organization and conformation of viruses but lack the viral genome, potentially yielding safer and cheaper vaccine candidates. Thus, Virus-like particles are molecules that mimic viruses but are not infectious. They are a very effective way of creating vaccines against diseases such as human papillomavirus (HPV), hepatitis B, malaria, and more.

VLP vaccines are a type of recombinant vaccine.

The vaccine can be administered to those in the 9 to 26 age group.

Significance

DGCI approval will allow the government to procure enough HPV vaccines at a special price to vaccinate nearly 50 million girls aged 9–14 years in India who are waiting to receive the vaccine. This will be a huge step to accelerate cervical cancer elimination in India and globally.

To know about Recombinant Vaccines, Read: https://www.iasgyan.in/blogs/types-of-vaccines

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/what-indias-first-hpv-vaccine-could-mean-for-fight-against-cervical-cancer-8027690/