Dengue Vaccine to be ready in January 2016

by Murry Page
30 Apr 15
mazmessenger.com

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that the first vaccine against dengue will go on sale in early 2016 and that the vaccine could reduce the mortality rate from the disease by 50 percent in just four years.

Olivier Charmeil, CEO of Sanofi Pasteur, the company producing the vaccine, said “We want to reduce dengue mortality by 50 percent and morbidity by 25 percent by 2020.”

Charmeil told the BBC that according to previous studies in 20,800 volunteers in Latin America, the vaccine would have a preventive rate of 95.5 percent. He said that such effectiveness would help avoid the most severe cases of dengue and reduce the hospitalization rate by 80 percent.
The CEO said, “Until now the only way to combat dengue was to eliminate the insect that transmits it, but as of January 2016 will be another weapon: a vaccine.”

According to data from the World Health Organization, 390 million people are infected with dengue each year, 100 million of them seriously.

(from Diario de Yucatán)

A Possible Vaccine for Dengue

by Murry Page

6 Sep 14 

mazmessenger.com

 

The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi announced on Friday that it is developing the first vaccine against dengue. The company’s formula in a final clinical trial demonstrated a reduction of 60.8 percent in the incidence of disease.

Following the investment of $ 1.7 billion, 20 years of research and dedication to this project, Sanofi said they have a drug that can combat dengue, a disease of rapid growth worldwide, especially in tropical or subtropical areas.

They reported that the latest tests, which included 20,875 children between 9-16 years of age in five countries in Latin America, confirmed that the new vaccine is safe and provides a high degree of protection against dengue hemorrhagic fever; it also shortened by 80 percent the risk of hospitalization.

The study was conducted in Brazil, Colombia, México, Honduras and Puerto Rico.

Sanofi will present its findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene this coming November.

Sanofi announced it will begin filing regulatory applications for the vaccine early next year and would aim to distribute the drug first in the countries where the trials were conducted. Chief executive Chris Viehbacher said that México, Brazil and Colombia could be the first to commercialize it.

The vaccine, which consists of three doses, is already in the first phase of production: the first batch will be ready next year and estimated to sell the first games in the second half of 2015.

(from Univision)