Sanofi Pasteur calls for global effort to eliminate polio

Sanofi Pasteur has urged the global business community to commit to a unified effort to finally eliminate the threat of polio once and for all.

The company has written a letter to Rotary International to congratulate both the community service organisation and the government of India on the success of their efforts to rid the Asian nation of the deadly disease.

India was once the biggest of four remaining polio endemic countries, but extensive vaccination programmes and healthcare initiatives have ensured the nation has now gone three years without a single polio case.

According to Sanofi Pasteur, this provides a shining example of the benefits multidisciplinary public-private partnerships can offer. It believes future international collaboration can lead to the disease's complete eradication in the foreseeable future.

Olivier Charmeil, executive vice-president for vaccines at Sanofi, said: "This is a once in a generation opportunity – maybe once in a lifetime. It is now up to all of us to collectively build on India's vast achievement."

Globally, Sanofi Pasteur provides more injectable and oral polio vaccines than any other company in the world. Last year, it supported the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization in its decision to provide inactivated polio vaccines to some of the world's poorest countries.