Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, announced that the Philippines have granted marketing approval to Dengvaxia, making it the first vaccine to be licensed for the prevention of dengue in Asia.

The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration approved Dengvaxia, tetravalent dengue vaccine, for the prevention of disease caused by all four dengue types in individuals from 9-45 years of age living in endemic areas.

"Approval of the first dengue vaccine in Asia, which bears 70% of global disease burden, is a major milestone in dengue prevention and public health," notes Olivier Charmeil, President and CEO of Sanofi Pasteur. "Approval of Dengvaxia in the Philippines, following closely the first approval in Mexico, is further evidence of Sanofi Pasteur's long-standing commitment to introduce this innovative new vaccine first in countries where dengue is a major public health threat."

Dengue fever burden in Asia continues to be the highest globally with an estimated 67 million people being sickened by the dengue annually. As an urban disease, dengue attacks populations of Asia in the form of unpredictable outbreaks capable of paralyzing health care systems, negatively impacting social and economic activity. Asian endemic countries spend an estimated 6.5 billion USD annually in both direct medical and indirect costs due to dengue.

"Prevention of dengue is an urgent and growing medical priority in the Philippines," says Dr. May Book Montellano, president, Philippine Foundation for Vaccination. "Vaccination is widely accepted as one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce the spread of infectious diseases like dengue. The approval of Dengvaxia, the world's first dengue vaccine, in the Philippines will be a critical addition to the ongoing public education and vector control efforts currently directed towards dengue prevention in our country."

Dengue is a major public health priority in tropical and subtropical countries in Asia and Latin America. Sanofi Pasteur is introducing Dengvaxia first in these countries where the vaccine has the greatest potential to reduce dengue burden globally and help to achieve the World Health Organization's goal to reduce dengue mortality by 50% and morbidity by 25% by 2020 in endemic countries. Sanofi Pasteur enrolled over 40,000 participants in extensive safety and clinical efficacy studies conducted mainly in endemic countries and built a dedicated vaccine production facility in France to secure adequate quality and quantity supply of the vaccine to meet endemic country demand upon introduction.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue is the fastest growing mosquito-borne disease in the world today, causing nearly 400 million infections every year. In the last 50 years dengue has spread from being present in a handful of countries to being endemic in 128 countries, where about 4 billion people live, and dengue incidence has likewise increased 30-fold in this time period.

Although dengue affects people from all ages and socio-economic backgrounds, the greatest number of dengue cases worldwide occurs in the highly mobile and social segment of endemic populations that include preadolescents to adult ages of 9 years and above.

Besides the Philippines, Dengvaxia is also registered in Mexico. Regulatory review processes for Dengvaxia are continuing in other countries where dengue is a public health priority. Manufacturing of the vaccine has already started in France.

Sanofi Pasteur's vaccine is the culmination of over two decades of scientific innovation and collaboration, as well as 25 clinical studies in 15 countries around the world. Over 40,000 volunteers participated in the Sanofi Pasteur dengue vaccine clinical study program (phase I, II and III), of whom, 29,000 volunteers received the vaccine. Dengvaxia successfully completed phase III clinical studies in 2014 to evaluate the primary objective of vaccine efficacy. The Philippines participated in all three phases of the clinical development of Dengvaxia.

Pooled efficacy and integrated safety analyses from the 25-month Phase III efficacy studies and the ongoing long-term studies, respectively, were published in The New England Journal of Medicine on July 27th 2015 affirming the vaccine's consistent efficacy and longer-term safety profile in study population 9-16 years of age. In the pooled efficacy analysis in this age group, Dengvaxia was shown to reduce dengue due to all four serotypes in two-thirds of the participants and prevent 8 out of 10 hospitalizations and up to 93% of severe dengue cases.

Dengvaxia is the first vaccine licensed for the prevention of dengue in the world. First doses of the vaccine have been produced at the dedicated production site in France with planned full-scale production capacity of 100 million vaccine doses annually.