KARACHI: Experts representing the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) at a ceremony held on Tuesday announced the launch of commercial production of Dow Rab, an anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) that has been prepared at its Ojha campus from Chinese raw material.

Speaking at the programme organised on the university campus, Vice Chancellor DUHS Prof Saeed Quraishy said that 30,000 doses of the vaccine manufactured at Dow Institute of Life Sciences (DILS), Ojha campus, had already been supplied to the distribution network.

“The vaccine has been finally launched after years’ of hard work. It meets all Drap (Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan) requirements,” he said.

He added that while the vaccine in its initial stages would be available in Sindh, plans were being made to ensure its availability across the country and produce additional 170,000 doses of the ARV.

DUHS VC says a complete ARV course will be available initially in Sindh for Rs1,500

He also informed the audience that a complete ARV course would be available at Rs1,500, recalling that the university had developed intravenous immunoglobulin during the coronavirus pandemic that helped save many lives.

Earlier, an agreement was signed between DUHS and Muller & Phipps Pvt Ltd for ARV’s distribution.

The speakers shared that each year, approximately a million people fell victim to stray dog bites in Pakistan, resulting in around 5,000 to 6,000 deaths due to rabies.

The National Institute of Health Islamabad, they said, reported that Pakistan required over 2 million doses of ARV annually and a majority of these were imported from India.

At the moment, they pointed out, Pakistan was facing a severe shortage of ARV due to conflict over pricing.

The university’s initiative, they said, would help meet this shortage and that the vaccine would be delivered to the desired location within 48 hours of a phone call.

The attendees included Chief Executive Officer DILS Syed Izhar Hussain, Dr Talat Roomi, Director Marketing Tariq Shahid, Manager Commercial Dow Ahad Wasiq, Director Pharma M&P Mujeeb Ali Khan Khan, Director Legal and Administration M&P Munaf Lakda and Director Finance Muhammad Tariq Khan.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024