WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) has recommended the use of Sanofi’s dengue vaccine- Dengvaxia  to control the spread of the life threatening mosquitoe borne disease. Dengvaxia has already been already approved for four countries including Brazil and Mexico.

In a statement Sanofi reps stated that, ” The SAGE advises that countries with high dengue transmission consider introduction of the dengue vaccine as part of an integrated disease prevention strategy including vector control to effectively lower their dengue disease burden.”

Vaccine’s Effectiveness

Dengvaxia vaccine’s anticipated impact on dengue fever disease burden is expected to stem from the vaccine’s proven ability to prevent 8 out of 10 dengue hospitalizations and up to 93 per cent of severe dengue cases–including dengue hemorrhagic fever–in study participants 9 years and older, as demonstrated during 25 months of follow-up of phase III efficacy studies.

WHO’s Objectives

The WHO has set objectives to reduce dengue morbidity by 25 percent and mortality by 50 percent by 2020. The recommendations from the SAGE are based on the technical review of clinical data from 25 clinical studies conducted in 15 different endemic and non-endemic countries around the world, including more than 40,000 study participants.

With inputs from: TOI and Economic Times Health

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