India working on developing vaccine for dengue

While development of a dengue vaccine has been perennially in the making, the recent launch of the third phase of clinical trials of dengue vaccine in India by ICMR with Panacea Biotec, has raised hopes over the availability of a dengue vaccine to the general public in the next few years.

Hyderabad: With cases of dengue continuing to surge every year in Telangana and across the country, several vaccine manufacturers from India and abroad are in a race to develop and launch a robust dengue vaccine that could potentially reduce the disease burden and strain on public health institutions in the country.

While development of a dengue vaccine has been perennially in the making, the recent launch of the third phase of clinical trials of an indigenously developed dengue vaccine in India by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in collaboration with Panacea Biotec, has raised hopes over the availability of a dengue vaccine to the general public in the next few years.

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Being considered by many as a landmark trial to evaluate efficacy of indigenous tetravalent dengue vaccine, DengiAll (brand name), the tetravalent dengue vaccine strain was originally developed by National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA and Panacea Biotec, which received the strain, is at the most advanced stage of development.

The phase I and II of this vaccine was completed in 2018-19 with promising results.

Apart from ICMR-Panacea Biotec, the Hyderabad-based Biological E Limited is also in the race to combat dengue fever.

Recently, Japanese pharma giant Takeda and Biological E limited announced collaboration to accelerate access to QDENGA (Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine) also known as TAK 003 developed by the Japanese pharma company.

Another pharma giant from State Capital, Indian Immunologicals Limited (ILI) is also in the process of developing a dengue vaccine and making it available commercially by early or mid-2026.

At present, the ILI, which is a subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), has successfully finished the first phase of clinical trials to vaccine’s safety.

The phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials of dengue vaccine by IIL are expected to be taken-up at the earliest and the vaccine likely to be launched in 2026.

The vaccine giant from Pune, Serum Institute has already received permission to conduct the phase I and 2 trials of its dengue vaccine labeled as Dengusiil.

In June of this year, the Serum Institute received a green signal from the Indian regulatory authorities to conduct the phase 2 trials of its dengue vaccine, after the promising results of the phase 1 trials.

The tetravalent live attenuated dengue vaccine is being manufactured in India by Serum Institute, which received the vaccine strains from National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States.