NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

French drugmaker Sanofi, developing the first vaccine against dengue fever, said its product reduced disease cases by 60.8 percent in a large final clinical trial.

Sanofi has invested more than 1.3 billion euros ($1.7 billion) in the project, undertaking two decades of research on the world’s fastest-growing tropical disease.

The final study – conducted on 20,875 children aged 9-16 across five countries in Latin America – confirmed that the vaccine was safe, provided high protection against dengue hemorrhagic fever and cut by 80 percent the risk of hospitalization, the Paris-based company said on Wednesday.

It was 42.3 percent efficient in tackling serotype 2, one of the viral disease’s four strains, compared to 35 percent in a previous Asian trial on some 10,000 children, a relatively weak rate that has puzzled scientists.