National manufacturer of
immunobiological products in Russia
En
National manufacturer of
immunobiological products in Russia
History of the Branch

The history of the Moscow Department of Bacterial Drugs of the Russian Ministry of Health (and the Scientific and Research Institute of Viral Drugs of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, as until 1983 they were the same organization) is a very remarkable part of the history of Russian immunobiology. Employees of the Moscow Department of Bacterial Drugs together with the O.G. Andzhaparidze Scientific and Research Institute of Viral Preparations of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences have saved at least 100 million people from severe diseases and at least 10 million people from death throughout Russia and around the world.

In 1956, the USSR Soviet of Ministers obliged to establish a new scientific and research institute in Moscow aimed to the development and mass production of drugs for treatment, diagnosis and prevention of poliomyelitis. All required employees of all categories were trained during a short period of time, and on November 4, 1957, the production of the then-most complex inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine began. By 1960, the production department of the Scientific and Research Institute of Viral Preparations had produced 43 million of doses of poliomyelitis vaccine to vaccinate more than 8 million children, which significantly reduced the incidence of paralytic poliomyelitis in our country. At the same time the vaccine was exported to Romania, North Korea, Iran, Japan, Cuba and other countries.

Later, tick-borne encephalitis, smallpox, rabies vaccines and the embryo influenza vaccine were developed and introduced into the healthcare practice.

In the middle of 60s, in accordance with the WHO global smallpox eradication program the Scientific and Research Institute of Viral Preparation developed the production technology, started the production of the standard highly active thermostable dried smallpox vaccine and supplied to the WHO more than 1.5 billion doses for 40 Asian and African countries (the USA supplied 20 million doses).

The original production technology of live measles and mumps vaccines was developed and introduced in the Scientific and Research Institute of Viral Preparations in the middle of 60s. In 1967, the Production Department of the Scientific and Research Institute of Viral Preparations started production of measles vaccines, and in 1974 – mumps vaccines, sufficient to meet the needs of the huge country. Due to the wide use of these preparations our country managed to prevent measles in more than 1.5 million children and epidemic mumps in 1.0 million children per year. The preventive vaccination of measles and epidemic mumps has reduced the incidence of these infections by tens of times compared with the minimum incidence rates of the pre-vaccination period. The live measles and mumps vaccines were recognized by the WHO as preparations compliant with the world’s standards. They have been imported to India, Vietnam, CIS countries for years.

In 2006, the company introduced the production technology of the rubella vaccine from the substance received from the Institute of Immunology, Inc., the Republic of Croatia, and since 2008 it has been produced on an industrial scale.

In 2008-2009, the Moscow Department of Bacterial Drugs developed the production technology of the rubella vaccine from its own substances. By now, the preparation has been registered and the industrial production has started.

Besides immunobiological preparations, the Moscow Department of Bacterial Drugs produces Epoetin beta – a solution for intravenous and subcutaneous injections in the form of recombinant human erythropoietin stimulating the generation of red blood cells in human blood. The company produces the erythropoietin substance by gene engineering.

At present, the Moscow Department of Bacterial Drugs is actually the only national company producing vaccines for the prevention of measles, mumps and rubella. For many years, measles and mumps vaccines, and recently – rubella vaccines, are supplied by the Moscow Department of Bacterial Drugs under the National Calendar of Vaccination according to the government contract.

The development of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is at the final stage – pre-clinical studies have been successfully completed, clinical studies are underway.

The Moscow Department of Bacterial Drugs carries out the full technological cycle of drug production, including the delivery of products in the “cold chain” regime.