World's first dengue vaccine out next year?

The world’s first dengue vaccine is in production, and could be available in the second half of 2015, according to Sanofi Pasteur, a multinational company devoted to vaccines.

It said in a statement that a second late-stage clinical study showed 95.5 percent protection against severe dengue and a reduction of hospitalisation risk by 80.3 percent.

Sanofi Pasteur, which is the vaccines division of Sanofi, announced the detailed results of the final landmark Phase III clinical efficacy study in Latin America in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The French drug maker said the overall efficacy against any symptomatic dengue disease was 60.8 percent in children and adolescents nine to 16 years old who received three doses of the vaccine.

The study was conducted on over 31,000 participants across 10 endemic countries in Latin America and Asia, including Malaysia.

Dengue is endemic in over 100 countries, making it a threat to nearly half of the world’s population. One person is hospitalised for dengue every single minute.

Sanofi has spent the last 20 years developing the vaccine that is several years ahead of potential competitors.