Sanofi’s dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, is now available in private healthcare clinics in Mexico
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines global business unit of Sanofi has announced that the Dengvaxia dengue vaccine is now available in private healthcare clinics of Mexico for vaccination of individuals 9 to 45 years of age. “Dengue is a major public health risk in parts of Mexico with no specific treatment available to healthcare professionals to manage outcomes with this disease,” says Dr José Ramos Castañeda, Professor of Virology and Researcher at the Center for Population Health Research of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP). “The Mexican medical community welcomes the ability to vaccinate people against dengue with the first clinical preventive tool for this often debilitating disease which continues to be a growing health issue in our country.”
Dengvaxia is now approved in nine countries globally, with four new registrations (Paraguay, Peru, Indonesia and Guatemala) granted in the last six weeks following the World Health Organization’s official endorsement of the vaccine’s safety, efficacy and public health value in endemic countries published on July 29, 2016.
“The private clinic launch of the dengue vaccine in Mexico is good news and follows closely CONAVA, the country’s National Vaccination Council, publication of recommendations for use of the dengue vaccine which provides the framework for the nation’s health authorities to consider implementation of the dengue vaccine in public programs to reduce disease burden in Mexico and reach the WHO 2020 ambition for dengue reduction,” adds Dr Cesar Mascareñas, Global Head of Medical Affairs for Dengue at Sanofi Pasteur.
The CONAVA recommendation is an endorsement of the advice given last April by the Group of Dengue Experts in Mexico (comprising more than 50 representatives from over 20 academic institutions), that was commissioned by the Minister of Health to work on a recommendation for the introduction of the vaccine following its licensure in Mexico last December.
Reportedly, the dengue vaccine was studied in a comprehensive clinical development programme involving over 40,000 participants from 15 countries worldwide where dengue is endemic. Mexico participated in all three phases of the clinical development programme for the vaccine and was the first country to approve the vaccine at the end of last year.
EP News Bureau
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