Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, announced that its pediatric pentavalent vaccine Shan5, developed and manufactured by its affiliate Shantha Biotechnics in Hyderabad, has received prequalification status from the World Health Organization (WHO). This status qualifies Shan5 vaccine for purchase by United Nations agencies, mainly UNICEF. Shan5 prequalification will give more children around the world access to the latest high quality, fully-liquid, 5-in-1 vaccine, and help secure the supply of pentavalent combination vaccines in over 50 emerging and low-income countries.

"Shan5 is the first product that puts together the best of Shantha and Sanofi Pasteur's assets and talents," said Mr Olivier Charmeil, Sanofi Pasteur President and CEO. "Today, a significant number of babies born every year do not have access to modern vaccination programs. By delivering large supplies of high-quality and affordable vaccines to emerging and low-income countries, Shantha will be contributing to fill the gap for the benefit of newborns and their parents."

Shan5 is produced at Shantha's state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Hyderabad, and received marketing authorization in March, 2014.

"The development of Shan5 benefitted from Sanofi Pasteur's more than fifty years of experience with whole-cell pertussis and combination vaccines ensuring robust processes and guaranteeing international quality standards" said Mr Harish Iyer, CEO, Shantha at a media briefing in Hyderabad. Shantha's manufacturing platform in India will serve Indian needs and provide Sanofi Pasteur access to additional vaccine markets globally."

Dr Varaprasad Reddy, founder of Shantha Biotechnics and non-executive chairman of the board said, "It is a very happy and momentous day for all of us at Shantha. My waiting period of four years has ended and we are very jubilant. I want to thank all the scientists of Sanofi Pasteur and Shantha Biotechnics for their collective and cooperative work, towards achieving this goal of establishing Shan5. We move forward, committed and focused on our priority and passion which is to serve people through high quality, and affordable vaccines."