India to include hepatitis B vaccine in compulsory immunization program

India's Health Ministry has decided to include hepatitis B in its listof compulsory immunizations and, if the government fixes a World Health Organization norm price of $1 per dose, it will give a major boost to the fortunes of several pharmaceutical companies in country manufacturing hepatitis B vaccines, which have a potential market value of $75 million, reports the Economic Times. The newspaper says companies such as SmithKline Beecham, Wockhardt, Cadila and Shanta Biotech have been lobbying for such a development for the last couple of years. Pfizer has tied up with Shanta for marketing the latter's vaccine in anticipation of the government's latest move.