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Pitt, Sanofi to develop test for dengue vaccine
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The University of Pittsburgh and Sanofi-Pasteur are partnering to assess the efficacy of Sanofi-Pasteur’s investigational dengue vaccine, according to a university press release.
Researchers from Pitt’s Center for Vaccine Research (CVR) are developing a test to determine whether a person’s immunity to dengue virus is the result of vaccination or a previous infection.
“Distinguishing whether a person’s immune response is from the vaccine or from infection by a mosquito can play an important role in the assessment of a candidate vaccine,” Ernesto Marques, MD, PhD, associate professor of infectious diseases and microbiology at the CVR, said in the release. “The goal of this test is to provide additional support in assessing the effectiveness of the vaccine after introduction.”
The recombinant, live-attenuated quadrivalent vaccine was tested in more than 4,000 healthy Thai school children in a 2009-2010 randomized trial. Results indicated that vaccine efficacy was 61.2% against dengue virus type 1, 81.9% against type 3 and 90% against type 4. However, the vaccine was unable to protect against serotype 2, according to researchers. The vaccine was safe and well tolerated, they said.
According to the CDC, up to 400 million people are infected by dengue each year.
“The new dengue test will be important to fully understand the impact of vaccination by providing additional support in assessing symptomatic vs. silent infections, ultimately helping officials gauge how much a vaccine reduces disease transmission,” said Nicholas Jackson, PhD, head of dengue research and development at Sanofi-Pasteur. “This test also could be used by the government and health agencies to manage an immunization program. It will give evidence that the vaccine works and could allow doctors to determine which populations still need vaccination so they can most effectively target their immunization outreach efforts.”
Sanofi-Pasteur is expected to release data from its phase 3 studies of the vaccine’s efficacy later this year.
For more information:
Sabchareon A. Lancet. 2012;380:1159-1167.