Takeda, Biological E. Team Up to Provide Dengue Vaccine Access to Endemic Countries
Current production of Qdenga will increase to 50 million doses a year.
Takeda and Biological E. Limited (BE), a pharmaceutical and biologics company, have decided to partner up in order to provide greater access to multi-dose vials of Qdenga, a dengue tetravalent vaccine.1 By 2030 at the latest, governments in endemic countries will have access to these doses; dengue is endemic in more than 100 nations, resulting in approximately 390 million yearly infections.2 Multi-dose vials not only help to reduce packaging and storage expenses, but environmental and waste as well.
With the help of Takeda’s plant in Singen, Germany, and IDT Biologika GmbH, a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), such an endeavor will involve BE boosting its manufacturing capacity to 50 million doses a year, which helps set a pace for Takeda’s goal of producing 100 million doses annually by the end of the decade.
Dengue fever is considered to be one of the most common mosquito-borne viral diseases across the globe—prevalence has increased 30-times over the last half century because of climate change, travel, urbanization, travel and climate change.3,4
“Takeda's long-term goal for our dengue program has been to make Qdenga broadly available to those at risk who may benefit from immunization. Within the last year, we've successfully launched in private markets, are now launching in some public programs, and working with partners to support a broader public health impact," said Gary Dubin, MD., president of Takeda’s global vaccine business unit. "We are proud to announce a strategic manufacturing partnership with Biological E. Limited, which has deep expertise in vaccine manufacturing and longstanding support of public health programs around the world.”
References
1. Takeda and Biological E. Limited Collaborate to Accelerate Access to Dengue Vaccine in Endemic Areas. Takeda. News release. February 26, 2024. Accessed February 27, 2024. https://www.takeda.com/newsroom/newsreleases/2024/collaboration-to-accelerate-access-to-dengue-vaccine/
2. World Health Organization. Dengue and Severe Dengue. World Health Organization. March 17, 2023. Access February 27, 2024. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-severe-dengue.
3. Ebi KL, Nealon J. Dengue in a changing climate. Environmental Research. 2016;151:115-123. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2016.07.026.
4. Messina, J.P., Brady, O.J., Golding, N. et al. The current and future global distribution and population at risk of dengue. Nat Microbiol 4, 1508–1515 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-019-0476-8.
