Competition had driven down the cost of the DTP to 15.50 rupees—about 14 cents US. The hepatitis B vaccine retailed for 45 rupees and the Hib for 25. Therefore, the combined cost of all three vaccines if purchased separately was Rs 185. However, the new pentavalent vaccine—made by Gates’s friend Cyrus Poonawalla, owner of the Serum Institute of India—costs Rs 550, a 1,440 percent increase in profits for every vaccine sold!196 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not licensed the combination vaccine for either safety or efficacy, and developed countries do not use it. A Cochrane
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