The World's First Dengue Fever Vaccine Cleared for Use in Mexico Medical Xpress
go to original December 9, 2015

Sanofi, committed against dengue fever, a disease impacted by climate change (Sanofi TV)

The first-ever vaccine against dengue fever, which affects up to 400 million people per year, has been cleared for use in Mexico, French manufacturer Sanofi said on Wednesday.

"It's a very important moment in the history of public health," Olivier Charmeil, head of the company's vaccines division, told AFP, describing Dengvaxia as the "innovation of the decade". This vaccine could potentially become "a blockbuster" and generate more than a billion dollars in revenue for the French pharmaceutical company, Charmeil added.

It took 20 years and more than US$1.6 billion in research and development to create Dengvaxia. Until now, scientists have been stumped by dengue which is caused by four separate viruses acting in concert.

The World Health Organization says dengue has become the fastest-growing mosquito-borne disease, with as many as 400 million people infected every year. It can trigger a crippling fever, along with muscle and joint pain, and there is no known cure. The deadliest form of the disease kills 22,000 people per year, the WHO says.

Over the past half-century, dengue has become endemic in more than 100 tropical and sub-tropical countries, thanks largely to rapid urbanization. Sanofi Pasteur has requested authorization to push the vaccine in 20 countries.

Read the rest at Medical Xpress

Related: Mexico Approves Sanofi’s Dengue Vaccine But Pricing Questions Remain (WSJ.com)

Related: All You Need to Know About the World’s First Dengue Fever Vaccine (Hindustan Times)

2012 Dengue vaccine study in Mexico (DengueInfo)

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