Mumbai, April 9 NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday, opposing the proposed sale of the seed strain of DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus) vaccines to a private firm.
The state-run Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation can produce affordable DPT vaccines, the former state minister said, adding that the seed strain is a rare and invaluable biological asset with a market value of thousands of crores of rupees.
Reliance Life Sciences had proposed to purchase the seed strain on commercial terms, following which the government apparently initiated the process, Patil said in the letter.
The sale of a valuable biological resource at the behest of a private company is "extremely concerning," the NCP (SP) MLA said, adding that he had raised the issue during the recent Budget session of the Maharashtra legislative assembly but did not receive a concrete response.
Noting that the Mumbai-based Haffkine Corporation is named after bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine, who developed vaccines for humanity and did not seek patents for his discoveries, Patil said that selling the seed strain of DPT vaccines would undermine Haffkine's legacy.
The proposed sale should be cancelled and the Haffkine Corporation should be asked to start vaccine production, which would ensure the availability of affordable vaccines, the NCP (SP) leader wrote.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar also raised the issue during the Budget session, questioning the urgency with which the Haffkine Institute invited an Expression of Interest following a proposal from Reliance Life Sciences to procure the DPT vaccine strain.
"When Haffkine itself has the capacity to manufacture vaccines, why is a biological asset worth around Rs 1,500 crore being handed over to a private company?" Wadettiwar had asked.
Established in 1899, the Haffkine Institute is one of the oldest biomedical research institutes in the country and is engaged in training, research and testing related to infectious diseases.
