Sanofi’s dengue vaccine Dengavaxia has been approved in Mexico, making it the first vaccine for the disease to be licensed in the world.
The country’s Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS) has approved Dengvaxia for the prevention of disease caused by all four dengue virus serotypes in people 9 to 45 years of age living in endemic areas.
However, this means that it is not yet approved for young children, one of the most at-risk populations, or tourists.
“When Sanofi set out to develop a dengue vaccine 20 years ago together with local and global public health and scientific communities, it was with the intention of developing an innovative vaccine to tackle this global public health need,” said Olivier Brandicourt, chief executive officer of Sanofi. “Today, with this first marketing authorisation of Dengvaxia, we have achieved our goal of making dengue the next vaccine-preventable disease.”
Dengavaxia is currently under review in other countries, with Sanofi hoping to have it filed for approval in a total of 20 markets by the end of the year. Other companies including Takeda and Merck & Co are developing dengue vaccines but are some years behind.
