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Business News/ Science / Health/  Hindustan Syringes ships over 100 mn KOJAK Auto Disable syringes to Covax
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Hindustan Syringes ships over 100 mn KOJAK Auto Disable syringes to Covax

HMD to make a total of 177.6 mn AD syringes for Govt. of India by March 2021
  • WHO and UNICEF have recommended that auto-disable syringes be used for administering vaccines— particularly in mass immunization programs
  • An illustration picture taken on November 19, 2020, shows a vial with Covid-19 Vaccine sticker, a syringe and an earth globe. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) (AFP)Premium
    An illustration picture taken on November 19, 2020, shows a vial with Covid-19 Vaccine sticker, a syringe and an earth globe. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP) (AFP)

    New Delhi: Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd (HMD), one of the largest manufacturers of disposable syringes in the world, on Monday said it has shipped over 100 million pieces of KOJAK Auto Disable syringes to Covax stockpile facility as the Covid-19 vaccines are showing promising results across the globe.

    The Covax facility working for global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines has ordered 140 million KOJAK AD Syringes from HMD to be supplied between August and December 2020.

    “HMD has shipped out more than 100 million pieces of 0.5 ml auto disable (AD) syringes for intramuscular injections to Covax facility and will soon send the next 40 million Syringes by December as the race for a 'safe and effective' vaccine against coronavirus infection is on the horizon." said Rajiv Nath, Managing Director of Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd.

    "In anticipation of the unprecedented spike in demand, HMD expects to achieve 800 million capacity per annum, in Qtr1 and 1000 million by end of Qtr 2 of 2021, up from current capacity of 700 million of these specialized 0.5 ml AD Syringes. We plan to allocate 50% of the total 0.5 ML AD Syringes produced for the government of India and 50% for export to UNICEF as we have got a global responsibility too," added Nath.

    WHO and UNICEF have recommended that auto-disable syringes be used for administering vaccines— particularly in mass immunization programs.

    “The frontrunner Covid vaccines being launched in India would need a 0.5ml AD Syringe for intramuscular drug delivery we are informed. In addition to the annual procurement of 300-350 million of these syringes by GoI for the UIP (Universal Immunization Program) additional orders have been placed on us by MoH&FW. We are informed that MoH&FW is in discussion with their other 2 suppliers also to place additional orders or seek to prepone deliveries of already placed orders with them.HMD is on track to produce 177.6 million 0.5 ml KOJAK AD syringes for GOI by March 2021 and 60 million are already in our stock, awaiting dispatch instructions," said Nath.

    “We have requested the Govt. to provide us clarity on the various kinds of syringes required for the vaccine candidates under development as some of these would be by intra dermal delivery ( via skin) or intra nasal delivery (via nose) or possibly oral delivery (via mouth). Each type would require a matching specialized syringe type. We need early intimation for boosting the capacities further. Syringe production is not like production of PPE kits which can be easily ramped up. It requires precision engineered multi cavity molds, equipment and automation that have a lead time of 9 months to a year from reputed suppliers in Europe & Japan," added Nath.

    “It’s ironic that though we are globally competitive, we lose out to cheap subsidized Chinese imports and the requirement to match L1 (lowest) price of Chinese imports becomes non-remunerative and discourages investments as it’s like making traffic lights, if Govt. will not buy , you can’t sell in the private sector and it takes time to build credentials for exports. Currently over 50% of the AD Syringes used in immunization come in from China We urge the government to increase import duty on syringes from 7.5% to 15% to enable expansion of supply base and profitable growth of quality certified production of all components and products in India," he said.

    HMD's DISPOVAN is arguabl the most popular brand in syringe market in India with over 60% market share with Dispovan Needle and Dispovan Insulin Syringes having over 70% Market Share.

    “As India gets ready for COVID-19 vaccine, the Govt. should be well equipped with secured stock of syringes in advance to administer a vaccine when it is ready. The estimated demand in India would be around 900 million of different kinds of syringes for just one shot of vaccine, considering 60-70 percent of the country is being vaccinated. The number would amplify to 1.8 Billion if the vaccine India chooses, needs two shots," said Rajiv Nath.

    Nearly 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be shipped and flown to developing countries next year in a "mammoth operation", the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said last week, as world leaders vowed to ensure the fair distribution of vaccines.

    UNICEF said it was working with over 350 airlines and freight companies to deliver vaccines and 1 billion syringes to poor countries such as Burundi, Afghanistan and Yemen as part of COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan with the World Health Organization (WHO).

    COVAX - co-led by GAVI vaccine group, the WHO and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations - aims to discourage governments from hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and to focus on first vaccinating the most at risk in every country.

    Drugmakers and research centres worldwide are racing to develop COVID-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants well underway.

    Pfizer Inc and BioNTech could secure emergency U.S. and European authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccine next month after final trial results showed a 95% success rate and no serious side effects.

    Moderna Inc last week released preliminary data for its vaccine showing 94.5% effectiveness.

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    Published: 30 Nov 2020, 03:24 PM IST
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