Massachusetts med honour for Cyrus Poonawalla

MUMBAI: Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally, has been conferred with an honorary 'Doctor of Humane Letters' degree by the

Massachusetts

Medical School at

Boston

.


Serum Institute, whose forte so far lay in vaccines for measles, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, has now developed a cure for rabies which claims more than two lives in India every hour. Called Rabishield, the potent monoclonal antibody was developed by Serum Institute in partnership with University of Massachusetts Medical School.

"It's a great honour," said the 73-year-old patriarch of the Poonawalla group. "What caught their attention was the contribution that me and my institute has made in providing vaccine to over 20 million underprivileged children in the world at the price of a cup of tea."

Serums currently brewing in the institute include "a pneumonia vaccine that should be ready next year and will cost Rs 300 per dose as opposed to its present rate of Rs 4,000... and a vaccine and cure for dengue", says Poonawalla.