After selling 1.3 billion doses of vaccines for Polio, Diptheria,Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib, BCG, r-Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps and Rubella across the world, Asia's largest biotechnology company, the Serum Institute of India is now ready with a drug to treat another disease that has been wreaking havoc: dengue. The company claims that one dose of its injection, costing between Rs 5000-10,000, will be enough to cure all four strains of the virus.

In Delhi alone, more than 1,900 fresh cases of dengue have been reported since last week, with 12 casualties. The total number of people who registered symptoms of dengue has now climbed up to 3,791 and with the lack of available beds at hospitals, the numbers are only going to go up.

Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla is in the process of applying for a "fast-track approval" from the Ministry of Science and Technology to roll out a monoconal anti-body vaccine in the market but it normally takes at least 12-18 months to get regulatory approvals and clearances. Serum has tied up with US-based biotechnology group Visterra in developing the anti-dengue vaccine and has an exclusive license to commercialize the distribution and treatment for India, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. According to the Times of India, the market for the vaccine could be huge, and reach $400 million in 2020, according to GlobalData estimates, while others say it could more than triple, and bring in $1.4 billion a year at its peak.

Though the vaccination for dengue sounds promising, it's likely that it will take a few years before it gets to the market. Currently Visterra's humanized monoclonal antibody has been going under trials and has been successfully animal tested.

"We hope that the government will give a fast-track approval to our application as dengue has assumed alarming proportions, and could become a public health crisis. It would then initiate clinical trials to prove its safety and efficacy on a few 100 to 1000 subjects", Poonawalla told TOI.