India approves its first Dengue vaccine

In a major breakthrough to combat the rising threat of dengue, India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has approved the country’s first vaccine against the disease. Developed by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda, the vaccine is marketed under the brand name Qdenga (TAK-003).

Driven by rapid urbanization, climate change, and expanding mosquito breeding grounds, dengue infections in India have surged more than eleven-fold over the past two decades. With India currently accounting for nearly one-third of the global dengue burden, the approval of this vaccine is being viewed as a significant milestone, NDTV reports.

Qdenga is a live-attenuated tetravalent vaccine designed to provide protection against all four distinct strains, or serotypes, of the dengue virus. Unlike the previous dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, which required mandatory blood tests to confirm prior exposure to the virus, Qdenga has no such prerequisites. This lack of pre-screening requirement is expected to greatly simplify large-scale vaccination campaigns. The vaccine has already secured regulatory approval in more than 40 countries, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Indonesia.

In alignment with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, the vaccine is administered subcutaneously in a two-dose regimen, spaced three months apart. Clinical trials conducted over four and a half years involving more than 20,000 children demonstrated that the vaccine is 84 percent effective in preventing dengue-related hospitalizations and roughly 61 percent effective against overall virologically-confirmed dengue.

While the pricing for the vaccine is yet to be announced, a partnership with Hyderabad-based Biological E is underway to manufacture 50 million doses annually within India, a move expected to significantly lower production costs. Public health experts have noted that the vaccine will not eradicate dengue entirely, emphasizing that it should be deployed as a supplementary defense alongside existing measures like mosquito control and community awareness programs.