BE gets WHO nod for Novel Oral Polio Vaccine

Hyderabad: In a monumental stride towards eradicating polio worldwide, Biological E Limited (BE), a city-based vaccine and pharmaceutical company has said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has granted Pre-qualification (PQ) status to their Novel Oral Polio Vaccine type 2 (nOPV2). nOPV2 is the 10th pre-qualified vaccine of BE. This next-generation live, attenuated oral vaccine significantly reduces the risk of circulating vaccine-derived Poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreaks and it is aimed at immunisation in countries that are affected by cVDPV2 outbreaks, which is a crucial moment in the fight against polio.

The persistent threat of circulating vaccine-derived Poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreaks can be tackled with the use of nOPV2 as the vaccine of choice. With its improved genetic stability, nOPV2 has a significantly decreased chance of seeding new outbreaks in low-immunity environments as against its predecessor, the Sabin poliovirus type 2 (mOPV2) vaccine.

Extensive clinical trials have rigorously evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of nOPV2, leading to promising results published in The Lancet (2019-2024). Furthermore, the vaccine’s real-world deployment in outbreak regions has shown that it can significantly decrease the incidence of cVDPV2 outbreaks, safeguarding communities from the ravages of polio.