Zydus Cadila, the Ahmadabad based pharmaceutical major has said that an indigenous vaccine to treat swine flu may be available in the market by April 2010. The company has been working on the vaccine for some time.

The first phase trials of the vaccine has been completed and soon the phase two and phase three trials will kick off soon in four major cities: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and Pune. It may take another six weeks to complete these phase two and phase three trials. The company is looking at producing ten to twelve million doses of the vaccine in the initial phase. The demand for H1N1 vaccine is rather high in India.

Industry estimates say around 60 to 80 million vaccine doses are required in India. So far Zydus Cadila has invested Rs. 80 crore in the development of the vaccine. It's not just Zydus that is working on HINI vaccines. Other Indian pharmaceutical players Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech and Panacea Biotech are working on the vaccination. In fact, SII has started the first phase of clinical trials. However, Zydus seems to be ahead in this race, at least for now.     

Also, the 1.5 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine to be imported from French company Sanofi Pasteur has passed the safety test. The mass vaccination for swine flu will begin in the country by next week.