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Sanofi's dengue vaccine first to complete phase 3

Nature Biotechnology volume 32, pages 605–606 (2014)Cite this article

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So far, Sanofi has spent more than €1 ($1.35) billion to develop ChimeriVax-Dengue. The French drug maker has also invested €300 ($405) million in a new, dedicated manufacturing facility in Neuville-sur-Saône near Lyon. Last July, production began at the new facility. Starting production early means that, should the vaccine be approved, it could be on the market as early as the end of 2015, ahead of competitors. Melanie Saville, chief medical and clinical officer, dengue vaccine, at Sanofi, says the aim is “to minimize the time between the potential registration of our candidate vaccine and the moment it is available to the healthcare community.” Demand for the vaccine could reach 2.4 to 3.5 billion doses over the first 5 years (Hum. Vaccin. 6, 745–753, 2010).

Dengue, for which there are no approved vaccines or antivirals, is the world's fastest-growing tropical disease. Dengue is caused by one of four related, but distinct, flavivirus serotypes (DEN 1-4), spread by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito. The boom in global travel and trade, urbanization, climate change and poor mosquito control have colluded to fuel dengue's dramatic increase. A 2013 study (Nature 496, 504–507, 2013) estimated the current annual global incidence of dengue infection at about 390 million—a much higher figure than the World Health Organization estimate of 50 to 100 million.

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    Gunjan Sinha

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Sinha, G. Sanofi's dengue vaccine first to complete phase 3. Nat Biotechnol 32, 605–606 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0714-605a

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