NID Develops Safe Storage Device For Vaccines

Are you one of those people who acquired a disease despite being vaccinated against it? Chances are, the vaccine given to you was not stored at the right temperature.

Now an innovation designed by the National Institute of Design (NID) can significantly retain the potency of vaccines for longer periods of time.

Maintaining the cold chain - the optimum temperature for a specific vaccine from manufacturing to beneficiary point - is most essential for a vaccine to be effective. "If kept at wrong temperatures or in refrigerators that also store eatables, it is likely that the vaccine will lose its potency," says Dr N D Ghasura, additional director, health and family welfare. Some vaccines are sensitive to heat, others to cold. Except polio and measles, around 10 other vaccines, including snake-bite vaccine, should never be stored at freezing point.

"During transport to rural areas, sometimes untrained staff do not take storage norms seriously which leads to vaccines losing their potency," says Pradyumna Vyas, principal designer at the faculty of Industrial Design, NID citing the reason for his designing the 'iceless' thermoelectric device which maintains the temperature at four degrees, using a battery.

(Ref: Times of India dated October 22, 2005)

Nidek To Strengthen Ophthalmic Business In India

Nidek Co Ltd., a leading Japanese company in the field of ophthalmic equipment, is planning to strengthen its business in India. Presently, Nidek has a strong distributorship in India with Delhi based KLB Instruments - who is marketing Nidek's medical equipment/products in the country.

Motoki Ozawa, Vice President of Nidek Co Ltd, told Pharmabiz "we have sold extensively around India our Phacoemulcification equipment through our strong distributor partnership with KLB Instruments. We have an outstanding ophthalmic laser and diagnostic platform that we want to now build from for growing the IOL (Intraocular Lens) market in India. We belive that Nidek is in a very strong position to leverage further growth and build Nidek's franchise in the IOL market in India - through product building, existing product users and most importantly a strong distribution network in India."

Nidek Co Ltd had received CE Mark approval for its newly introduced Nidek CV - 7000 Phacoemulcification system and Nidek's Nex-Acri IOL (Intraocular Lens).

Nidek is also globally building a strong and established business in the are of retina/posterior segment with diagnostics instrumentation. This is an area of great focus for Nidek.

"With our recently launched Nex-Acri IOL, Nidek's hydrophobic acrylic foldable IOL, we look to develop and expand our reach into the growing market segments of cataract surgery and intraocular lenses. Nidek's excellent diagnostic platform, ophthalmic lasers and now cataract / phacoeumulcification systems paired with Nidek's IOLs will continue our long term strategy of growth and market development in Europe, Middle East and Asia, he added.

The Nidek CV - 7000 Phacoemulcification system delivers a new standard in cataract surgery, providing a high repetitive pulse mode for excellent operability and reduced thermal/heat generation.

Nidek's products are classified into various sections like refractive surgery/imaging & communication software; surgical lasers & equipment; intraocular lens; diagnostic equipment etc.

Founded in 1971, Nidek is claimed to be the world's leading supplier of surgical and diagnostic products for vision care. Based in Gamagori, Japan, Nidek is today firmly established in 90 countries through a network of wholly owned subsidiaries and specialist independent distributors.

Nowadays a number of Japanese pharmaceutical companies are keen to on marketing business relations with Indian companies for joint research, product outsourcing and marketing alliances. Recently, Eisai Pharmaceuticals India Private Ltd., launched as the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese pharma major Eisai Co Ltd., had signed agreements with GSK India to market Parit, Eisai's new generation Proton Pump inhibitor for gastric diorders and Wockhardt for the manufacturer of its Alzheimers drug Aricept in India. The company is also planning to launch new products in the gastroenterology and CNS segments within one year in India.

(Ref : Chronicle Pharmabiz dated September 22, 2005)