A low-cost diarrhoea vaccine for children has been developed by India, enabling parents all over the world to avail of a cheaper alternative medicine that could cure and save their children from the deadly Rotavirus.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children. Nearly every child in the world has been infected with rotavirus at least once by the age of five. Although a fairly manageable early childhood disease, more than 450,000 children under five years old, mostly from the developing countries, die each year due to the rotavirus infection. Another two million become severely ill. Although oral rehydration therapy can cure infected children, global health experts had recommended to parents to include vaccination in their children's routine immunization to prevent the occurrence of the disease.

According to an Indian manufacturer, the new Rotavac vaccine would cost 54 rupees (AU$1) per dose, definitely cheaper to those manufactured by international pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Merck which cost approximately 1,000 rupees (AU$18.50). A child needs to take three doses as part of vaccination.

The Rotavac vaccine bears a 56 per cent efficacy if administered in the first year of life, according to scientists who released the results of the Phase III clinical trials of the vaccine.

"Rotavac significantly reduced severe rotavirus diarrhoea by more than half," M K Bhan, former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, who isolated the rotavirus strain in 1985 while pursuing research at AIIMS, said.

Trial data likewise further showed the protection lasted into an infant's second year of life.

"The clinical results indicate that the vaccine, if licensed, could save the lives of thousands of children each year in India," DBT Secretary Dr. K. Vijay Raghavan said. The rotavirus is responsible for approximately 100,000 deaths of small children in India annually.

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has lauded the medical breakthrough invention.

Bharat Biotech, the Hyderabad-based company expected to manufacture the vaccine, said it will take between eight to nine months for Rotavac to get mass-produced to tens of millions of doses, after clearance has been issued.

The GAVI Alliance, a public-private global health partnership that works to deliver vaccines to the world's poor, heralded the invention of Rotavac.

"The cheaper the price the more children you can immunize," Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI Alliance, said.

He also said a third vaccine manufacturer would ease supply shortages as well as push down costs imposed by other manufacturers.

"That would make a big difference in terms of changing the marketplace," he said.