Every year dengue claims several lives in India and across the globe. Recently, a Japanese pharma company has tied up with Indian vaccines maker Biological E to roll out doses against this mosquito borne infection.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral that can turn fatal as well. In India and Southeast Asia, 1.3 billion people live in dengue-endemic areas, with Thailand, India, and Indonesia among some of the most highly endemic countries. According to the World Health Organisation About half of the world’s population is now at risk of dengue with an estimated 100–400 million infections occurring each year.
In a recent update, Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical is holding talks with Indian regulators to make its dengue vaccine available in the country, the drugmaker’s global head of vaccines, Gary Dubin, told Reuters on Tuesday.
“We are in talks with regulators and plan to start a clinical trial very soon,” said Dubin. The Japanese drugmaker plans to scale up the production of its dengue vaccine Qdenga through a partnership with Indian vaccine maker Biological E., the companies said earlier in the day.
Dengue Vaccine in India- 5 Points
- Biological E will scale up its production capacity to potentially reach 50 million doses annually, accelerating Takeda’s efforts to manufacture 100 million doses annually within the decade, reported PTI.
- These vaccines will be available for governments in endemic countries by 2030 as part of their national immunization programmes.
- Takeda’s dengue vaccine is available for children and adults in countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Argentina and Brazil, but is not approved for use in India.
- The global health agency estimates more than five million dengue cases and over 5,000 associated deaths have been recorded across all six WHO regions.
“One of the challenges we have is being able to scale up manufacturing to support what we expect will be a very large global need,” Dubin told Reuters, adding that the collaboration is aimed at doubling Takeda’s current capacity to manufacture the vaccine.
Dubin said Biological E has the technical expertise to manufacture the vaccine. Brazil has bought 5.2 million doses of Qdenga, with an additional 1.32 million doses provided at no cost, as the country undertakes emergency measures and mass vaccinations against the mosquito-borne disease.
Since the beginning of 2023, the world has been facing an upsurge in dengue cases and deaths reported in endemic areas, with further spread to areas previously free of dengue, according to the World Health Organization.
(With agency inputs)