Brazilian Institute to Manufacture Rotavirus Vaccine

According to Brazilian drugmakers' association ALANAC, local production of a new vaccine against rotavirus, a cause of severe and potentially fatal gastrointestinal problems in child sufferers, is to begin in 2006. The vaccine has been developed by a leading São Paulo-based research centre, the Instituto Butantan. Worldwide, some 135mn cases of rotavirus-related disease are reported annually.

A move toward production was agreed between the US National Institutes of Health and São Paulo's state government last week. The deal envisaged production of roughly 10mn doses for the Brazilian market, with any surplus to be available for export. Notably, UK-based drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline recently launched a vaccine for the disease, known as Rotarix, in world markets outside the US.