Dengue vaccine may be available in Phl by 2015

MANILA, Philippines - The world’s first dengue vaccine is up for registration and may be available in the country by July next year, an official of a pharmaceutical company said yesterday.

Olivier Charmeil, Sanofi Pasteur president, said they would apply for licenses with the health authorities of various countries where dengue is prevalent, including the Philippines.

“We will apply for licenses so we can distribute the vaccines in countries where dengue is a public health priority,” Charmeil said in a statement.

He said the vaccine will boost efforts of various countries to reduce dengue deaths by 50 percent in the next five years.

Charmeil said Sanofi is manufacturing the vaccine in France.

Based on studies, the vaccine has an overall efficacy of 60.8 percent against symptomatic dengue fever in children and adolescents who are given three doses of the vaccine.

Analysis also showed a 95.5 percent protection against severe dengue fever as well as 80.3 percent reduction in the risk of hospitalization.

Sanofi said the clinical study for its dengue vaccine was conducted in 10 endemic countries in Asia, including the Philippines, with over 31,000 participants.

Medical experts said the vaccine could prevent hospitalization of dengue patients.

Sanofi has been working on a dengue vaccine for more than 20 years now.

There is no specific treatment available for dengue at the moment and it is estimated that 500,000 people worldwide are hospitalized yearly due to the disease.

In the Philippines, a total of 73,815 dengue cases, with 288 deaths were recorded from January to October this year. Region 10 accounted for the biggest number of dengue cases with 7,690 followed by Region 4-A with 7,627 and Region 11 with 6,694.

Most of the cases were males and young people from five to 14 years old.

The Department of Health is planning to include dengue vaccine in its expanded immunization program as soon as it becomes available in the market.