(Bloomberg Opinion) — Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s dengue vaccine has been greenlit for use in Europe, making it the second inoculation worldwide approved to combat the mosquito-borne disease that affects nearly 400 million people. people a year.
The European Commission has approved the two-shot regimen, called Qdenga, for people over the age of four, Takeda said in a statement on Thursday. The go-ahead was expected after a European Union advisory panel endorsed it in October. Shares rose 1.5% in Tokyo on Friday.
Takeda’s shots can be used in a broader swath of the population than Dengvaxia, the vaccine made by rival Sanofi that suffered a major setback in 2017 when an analysis found that people who had never had dengue before receiving the vaccine had an increased risk of developing severe dengue. disease if they were infected later.
Read more: How Takeda developed a dengue vaccine after decades of setbacks
About half the world’s population lives in areas at risk of dengue, and scientists have warned that climate change will likely accelerate the spread of the mosquito species that transmit the virus. An increase in travel as the world turns to live with Covid-19 has also increased the threat of people becoming infected.
“With the increasing ease of travel today, our once expansive world has become much smaller, increasing the risk of contracting dengue disease for those who live in dengue-endemic areas and for those who travel. to these regions,” Gary Dubin, head of Takeda’s vaccine unit. he said in the statement. Qdenga will offer a new tool in disease prevention for people in the EU and those traveling to endemic regions around the world, he said.
Although most cases of dengue are mild and usually cause flu-like symptoms, some infected people experience a sudden onset of fever, headache, rash, and muscle and joint pain so severe that some call it to the disease “breakbone fever”. About 500,000 dengue patients a year require hospitalization for complications that can result in shock and internal bleeding. Some 20,000 die, mainly children.
Takeda said it will start selling Qdenga in Indonesia early next year after it was approved by the country in August. He is also seeking approvals in about a dozen other countries, including the US.
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