PATH is working with partners in India and China to advance promising new rotavirus vaccines.

Development of new vaccines is critical to protecting children everywhere

Why is diarrhea the second leading killer of children under five in the developing world? It doesn’t have to be, especially if these children can get a rotavirus vaccine.

Poor sanitation, insufficient water treatment systems, and lack of access to appropriate medical care and life-saving vaccines translate into nearly two million deaths and millions more hospitalizations from severe, dehydrating diarrhea every year. While dozens of pathogens can cause diarrhea, rotavirus is one of the most deadly—causing 40 percent of all diarrheal disease hospitalizations and killing more than 500,000 children each year.

Many cases of diarrhea can be prevented through improved sanitation or treated with simple oral rehydration therapy, but rotavirus is not always responsive to these traditional measures. The virus is so contagious and resilient that traditional hygiene measures—like encouraging hand washing and providing clean water—just don’t work well enough. And rotavirus infection often causes vomiting, which makes oral rehydration therapy far less effective. For these reasons, vaccination is the best hope for saving the lives of children in the developing world. Unfortunately, rotavirus vaccines are not yet readily available to them.

PATH’s philosophy is simple: children in the developing world should have access to safe, effective, and affordable vaccines as quickly as possible. That’s why we’re working on two fronts, making existing commercial rotavirus vaccines more available now and speeding the development of new vaccines for the future.

Encouraging new vaccines

Hospital diarrhea wards in Nicaragua are now empty, thanks to lifesaving rotavirus vaccine. Watch the video.

Two rotavirus vaccines are currently in use in several countries, and PATH is working to make them available in the developing world. Although the manufacturers of existing rotavirus vaccines can meet demand over the next few years, new vaccines and suppliers will be essential to keeping pace with the market as it continues to grow. In addition to increasing available supply, new vaccines mean more competition, which will help make all of the rotavirus vaccines on the market more affordable.

PATH is collaborating with emerging vaccine manufacturers—Bharat Biotech International Ltd. and Shantha Biotechnics Ltd. in India and China National Biotec Group’s Wuhan Institute of Biological Products—to develop two promising candidates into safe, effective, and affordable vaccines. We are working closely with these companies in the areas of clinical development, formulation, manufacturing, and compliance with national and World Health Organization regulations, streamlining the development process and allowing these vaccines to become licensed more quickly.

In addition, PATH is supporting a “shared technology platform” that is available to all manufacturers actively developing the bovine-human reassortant vaccine candidate. This toolbox of technologies, training, methodologies, and material is designed to meet common needs among emerging vaccine manufacturers and maximize global availability of rotavirus vaccines.

We are also supporting a third rotavirus vaccine candidate being developed by Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Australia by assisting with the production of their clinical trial lots.

Learn more about our partners who are helping make equal protection against rotavirus a reality.

Lasting change

Today, nearly every child in the world, rich or poor, contracts rotavirus before the age of three—but more than 85 percent of rotavirus-related deaths occur in the developing world. By accelerating the development of promising vaccine candidates, PATH and our partners are striving to right these imbalances, providing children in poor countries with the protection that is already available to children in wealthier ones.

Photo: Philippe Blanc.