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Vaccine and Biological Products Center

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Center

Functions of Vaccine and Biological Center.

  1. The Vaccine and Biological Center shall perform such functions as are directed and assigned by the Federal Government or the Board, including;
    1. Produce biological materials and vaccines;
    2. Organize training programs through national diploma and specialized short-term training courses for vaccine and biologic production;
    3. Collaborate with national and international research institutes to provide technical input in the areas of vaccine development, vaccines research; and
    4. Promote research activities and development towards improving biological products, up- scaling of technologies, and introducing newer vaccines, diagnostics and other biological products.
Department

Quality Assurance Department

The concept of Quality Assurance started in Biological Production Division (BPD) during the year 1992 but an independent Quality Assurance Department was established in Nov 2002.

Quality Assurance plays a pivotal role in the manufacturing of products by incorporating principles that bring solid footing to the institute by improving technical competence and quality management techniques. It is the combination of activities ensuring that biological/pharmaceutical products are of quality required for their intended use. It is a measure of safeguards, which are built into the manufacturing process.

It is a series of planned activities, which biological/pharmaceutical facility carries out with the aim of offering adequate confidence that a product complies with the specified quality requirement. It also makes certain that Product is produced in accordance to WHO GMP recommended requirements and meets the WHO recommended requirements for quality, safety and efficacy (Technical Report Series, WHO, documents).

Department

Quality Control Department

Quality Control Quality Control Laboratory was established in 1992. It is capable of evaluating all aspects of the testing procedures and processes, performing quality control tests of all products for according to CGLP for monitoring the quality of biological products produced by NIH Islamabad, to evaluate their efficacy. This section is also engaged in evaluation of raw materials procured and finished products manufactured by BPD.

Department

Allergy Center

The idea of establishing the allergy center was conceived in the early 80s. The main goal was to take a necessary diagnostic, preventive and curative measures for decreasing the allergy morbidity and mortality in the country. In 1981 onwards NIH started providing Allergy vaccine immunotherapy to the patients suffering from allergic disorders and thus NIH emerged as a pioneer in this field.

The Allergy Center is the sole provider of allergy testing and Immunotherapy/ management services for the last twenty-nine years. Allergy Center also keeps liaison with Islamabad Capital Territory (CDA) in the Free Allergy Camps arranged at Aabpara Islamabad every year and make use of the Meteorological Department weather forecast information on pollen for its patient’s convenience during pollen season.

Laboratory

Sera Processing Lab

50+ Years of commitment for saving lives

Snakebite envenoming: A Neglected Tropical Disease of Pakistan.

Pakistan is world’s sixth most populated country with of 220 million residents and about 70% of population residing in rural areas of the country. It lies in the most important geographical region of the world with respect to snakebite, due to its extreme climatic conditions, topography and variety of indigenous venomous snake species widespread in four main provinces. Despite of very less available published data on incidence annual 25,000 to 30,000 cases are reported to have serious envenomation due to snakebites.

National Institutes of Health is the sole manufacturer of Anti Snake Venom Serum (ASVS) and other Sera products since 1967. The old Sera processing laboratory was initially designed to produce up to 25,000 – 30,000 (10m vials) per annum according to the then country demand. Keeping in view the increasing population size and country demand for Antisnake venom serum, there was a dire need to improve the production capacity of indigenously produced antivenom for the poor population of the country.

The Government of Pakistan has contributed substantial funding to expand the local production of antivenom against native snake species. Recently a new cGMP compliant manufacturing plant has been established at NIH to for capacity enhancement of anti-snake venom & other sterile biological products.

The Manufacturing Laboratory:

The new Sera processing Laboratory is well equipped with latest machinery and equipment as per international requirements and standards. The project is now functional for manufacturing of anti- snake venom serum and other sterile products as per country’s requirements. (Picture gallery)

The Technical team:

Team Sera is always on the front line for beating snakebite envenomation and is driven by one promise “To save and improve lives of snakebite-affected communities of Pakistan”. Our team includes the highly technical staff including Microbiologists, Biological and Veterinary scientists, Engineers and other skilled support staff who are trained to handle venomous snakes, and are involved in different stages of manufacturing. (Picture gallery)

Our Products:

  • Poly-valent anti-snake venom serum (Poly-ASVS) against medically important most prevalent venomous snake species (Cobras, Russel Viper, Kraits, Echis)
  • Anti-Rabies serum ARS (Equine origin).
  • Anti-Tetanus serum & Anti diphtheria serum (will be available soon).

Research and Development:

Sera lab has been involved in supporting and encouraging students from various universities of Pakistan to collaborate in research related to snake venomics and antivenomic. Many students of BS, MS & PhD from Quaid-i Azam university, International Islamic University and Fatima Jinnah Women University have completed their research in Sera R & D lab.

We are in search of international collaborations and support to strengthen local Anti-sera production at NIH and global coalition to integrate more effective prevention, treatment and management strategies for controlling of snakebite envenomation.

Our future vision

“A world protected from morbidity and mortality associated with Snakebite envenomation”

To achieve this the access, we are focusing to: -

  • Empower and engage communities by various snakebite awareness initiatives.
  • Continual improvements to manufacture safe and effective quality products and capacity enhancement.
  • Ensure antivenom availability by improved distribution mechanisms.
  • Increase partnerships, coordination and resources to strengthen local health systems.
Department

Veterinary Farms Management

Animal Management Section (including Animal House & Stable) has been functioning as one of the fundamental and mandatory components of NIH. The Animal Management Section was up-graded to Veterinary Farms Managements Sub-Division (VFMS) in May 1998 as a first step to establish a new full-fledged division of laboratory animal resources, due to ever increasing demand, importance and vitality of laboratory animals by/for NIH and other scientific/academic institutions of the country involving animal experimentation/research

The main functions are:

− Availability of small lab animals for biological testing and research
− Provide whole blood from hyper-immunized horses to produce Anti Snake Venom & Anti Rabies Serum
− Breeding, rearing and supply of lab animals to NIH
− Supply blood of sheep and other animals for culture media
− Providing small animals for research to academic and scientific institutions (countrywide)