BioDiem's live attenuated flu vaccine NasoVac launched in India

Australian firm BioDiem's lead product, the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) has been granted regulatory approval for marketing in India. NasoVac was launched this week by the Indian vaccine company, the Serum Institute of India (SII).

This is the first approval for marketing of BioDiem's LAIV outside of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. BioDiem has exclusive rights from the Institute of Experimental Medicine (IEM) in St Petersburg, Russia, to commercialize the LAIV technology outside Russia and the CIS. The vaccine has over 10 years of safe and effective use there, where over 80 million doses have been distributed.  LAIV is a novel influenza vaccine delivered by nasal spray and is based on the live attenuated influenza vaccine developed at the IEM.

The Indian launch comes as a result of SII's licence for the development of an intranasal egg-based vaccine against the H1N1 influenza strain (swine flu) under WHO's Pandemic Flu program. BioDiem is eligible to receive royalty payments on sales of this product in the private market.