INDIA — Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical has entered into a strategic collaboration with India’s Biological E to ramp up production of its dengue vaccine Qdenga,according to an announcement made on Tuesday.
According to the two firms, Biological E. will increase its production capacity to 50 million doses annually, speeding up Takeda’s plans to produce 100 million doses annually in less than ten years.
Although Takeda’s vaccine is not authorized for use in India, it is available for both adults and children in nations including Argentina, Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Brazil is currently implementing emergency measures and mass immunization against the disease spread by mosquitoes and has purchased 5.2 million doses of Qdenga, with an extra 1.32 million doses supplied without charge.
Takeda’s collaboration with Biological E is also happening at a time when there is a global need for vaccines to curb the rising denque fever cases across the world.
The World Health Organization reports that since the start of 2023, there has been a global increase in dengue cases, deaths from the disease, and its spread to previously dengue-free areas.
It estimates more than five million dengue cases and over 5,000 associated deaths have been recorded across all six WHO regions.
According to Save the Children, the number of cases of dengue fever in 2023 exceeded that in the previous five years on an annual basis. This is because the sickness spreads more widely due to harsh weather conditions.
According to the humanitarian organization, between January and November 2023, there were about 5 million cases of dengue fever in 20 of the worst-affected nations.
This was a 30% rise in cases over the course of 2022 and an 18% increase over the numbers from 2019, the year of the world’s most recent significant outbreak.
Takeda’s new partnership with Biological E may help reverse this situation. The company projects that by 2030, governments in endemic countries will have access to these dosages for use in their national immunization programs.
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