Sanofi Pasteur Makes Progress with Dengue Vaccine

Sanofi Pasteur (Lyon, France) has announced positive results from Phase 2 trials of its dengue vaccine candidate based on technology licensed from Acambis plc (Cambridge, UK).

Dengue is one of the most common tropical diseases and a growing public health concern. Worldwide, 50–100 million people are affected and cases are appearing in northern Australia and Texas. The potential market for a dengue vaccine could be worth more than €1 billion annually. Sanofi Pasteur also plans to start a large-scale Phase 3 efficacy study in 2008, making this project the first tetravalent candidate dengue vaccine in the world to reach this stage of clinical development.