Pakistani university develops dog bite vaccine

KARACHI: Pakistan’s renowned medical university, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), has developed an anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) ‘Dow Rab’, a dog bite vaccine which is available to victims through a phone call.

Initially, this facility was introduced in Sindh province, which will later spread across the country. The vaccine will be delivered to the desired location within 48 hours of a phone call, a university spokesman said Tuesday.

DUHS Vice-Chancellor Prof. Muhammad Saeed Quraishy inaugurated the “Dow Rab” in a simple ceremony.

On the occasion, he said that 30,000 doses of the local antiretroviral formulation have been delivered to the distribution network, which are manufactured by the Dow Institute of Life Sciences (DILS) at the Ojha campus from imported raw materials.

Quraishy expressed his determination that it will soon be manufactured in Pakistan from locally sourced raw materials. At present, we depend on imported raw materials from China. Efforts are then underway to produce an additional 170,000 doses of ARVs, hoping to reach this target, he added.

DILS CEO Syed Izhar Hussain, Dr. Talat Roomi, Director Marketing Tariq Shahid, Manager Commercial Dow Ahad Wasiq, Director Pharma M&P Mujeeb Ali Khan, Director Legal and Administration M&P Munaf Lakda, and Director Finance Muhammad Tariq Khan and others were also present on the occasion.

The vice-chancellor said that after years of rigorous research and regulatory steps by the country, Dow University has started commercial production of rabies vaccine at the Ojha campus. Its full course will be available for Rs 1,500.

Let us recall that Dow University had developed IVIG immunoglobulin during the days of the coronavirus epidemic, with the use of which hundreds of patients with coronavirus got a new life.

Earlier, in another ceremony, a letter of interest (LoI) was signed between Dow University and the Muller & Phipps distribution network.

On behalf of Dow University, the MoU was signed by Secretary Dr. Ashar Afaq under which the distribution company will ensure availability of ARV Dow Rab across Pakistan in a phased manner.

Every year, about one million people are bitten by stray dogs in Pakistan, resulting in about 5,000-6,000 deaths due to rabies.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Islamabad reports that Pakistan requires more than 2 million doses of ARVs annually, and the majority of these are imported from India.

Pakistan is currently facing a severe shortage of rabies vaccines due to the conflict over pricing.

Importers claim that due to the depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar, the prices of vaccines and other biological products should increase, while local production is also expected to stabilize prices.