Big breakthrough: Dengue vaccine may be out soon
An experimental vaccine against dengue fever being developed by Sanofi proved about 60% effective in its second large clinical trial. The results could clear the way for the introduction of the world's first inoculation against the disease, which is mosquito-borne and becoming an increasing threat.
Sanofi, a French drug company , said on Wednesday that use of the vaccine cut the risk of getting dengue by 60.8% in the trial, which involved 20,875 children ages 9 to 16 from several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Those who received the vaccine also had an 80.3% lower risk of being hospitalized with dengue compared with children who received injections of a placebo. The results are roughly similar to those from the first large clinical trial, in which the vaccine reduced the incidence of dengue fever by 56.5%. That trial involved about 10,000 children in Southeast Asia.
"For the first time ever, after 20 years of research and industrial commitment, dengue is set to become a vaccine-preventable disease," Olivier Charmeil, CEO of Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of Sanofi, said in a statement.
A question now is how widely such a vaccine would be adopted. Some experts hoped for a greater effectiveness, especially since in the first large trial the vaccine was somewhat less effective in younger children, who are most vulnerable to the disease.
"It's certainly not anywhere close to what we had hoped," said Dr Scott B Halstead, scientific adviser to the nonprofit Dengue Vaccine Initiative. Still, he said, the vaccine does appear to prevent severe disease.
-TOI
Sanofi, a French drug company , said on Wednesday that use of the vaccine cut the risk of getting dengue by 60.8% in the trial, which involved 20,875 children ages 9 to 16 from several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Those who received the vaccine also had an 80.3% lower risk of being hospitalized with dengue compared with children who received injections of a placebo. The results are roughly similar to those from the first large clinical trial, in which the vaccine reduced the incidence of dengue fever by 56.5%. That trial involved about 10,000 children in Southeast Asia.
"For the first time ever, after 20 years of research and industrial commitment, dengue is set to become a vaccine-preventable disease," Olivier Charmeil, CEO of Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine division of Sanofi, said in a statement.
A question now is how widely such a vaccine would be adopted. Some experts hoped for a greater effectiveness, especially since in the first large trial the vaccine was somewhat less effective in younger children, who are most vulnerable to the disease.
"It's certainly not anywhere close to what we had hoped," said Dr Scott B Halstead, scientific adviser to the nonprofit Dengue Vaccine Initiative. Still, he said, the vaccine does appear to prevent severe disease.
-TOI
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