Brazil to produce measles vaccine for international market

Brazil will produce vaccines against the measles for export to developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the country's top health official said here on Monday. The first Brazilian vaccine targeting the global market will be produced by the Bio-Manguinhos Lab, which is part of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil's renowned state-run public health research facility in Rio, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Hailing the agreement, Brazilian Health Minister Alexandre Padilha said the project would stimulate local production aimed at the global market, and generate both jobs and wealth through the construction of a factory in Rio. "The agreement we signed will permit more investment and guarantees of purchase, which will allow us to get to the external market with the lowest price," Padilha said, adding the ministry is investing 1.6 billion reals (733 million U.S. dollars). In addition, he said, the technology needed to produce the vaccines will benefit the domestic market. The government expects 30 million doses of the vaccine to be commercially available by 2017, at 54 U.S. cents each, the lowest price in the world. Only one lab in the world, located in India, produces the vaccine against the measles, which kills about 158,000 people a year in the world, mostly children under the age of five. Meanwhile, Brazil will also make progress toward the production of a vaccine against dengue fever, which often breaks out in parts of the country in the summer months.