Sanofi dengue vaccine promising but questions remain

By Natalie Huet PARIS (Reuters) – The first vaccine against dengue fever, from France’s Sanofi, provided moderate protection in a large clinical study, but questions remain as to how well it can help fight the world’s fastest-growing tropical disease. The late-stage trial involved 10,275 healthy children aged 2-14 across five countries in Asia, a region that accounts for over two-thirds of the mosquito-borne disease’s global burden. Sanofi had already disclosed in April that its vaccine reduced the incidence of dengue fever by 56 percent in the Asian study, without giving details. The results suggest the new vaccine acts best as an immune booster for patients with some previous exposure, and therefore may be most useful in tropical regions where dengue is common, rather than as a vaccination for travellers.