New Delhi: The Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board, has received permission from the Centre for Phase-1 trial of dengue vaccine, a report in The Indian Express said. India doesn't have a dengue vaccine yet. IIL is developing the dengue vaccine in collaboration with the US-based National Institute of Health (NIH), which provided the firm with the virus.
The Managing Director of IIL, Dr Anand Kumar, told India Express, "We have now got permission for Phase-1 (trial) for dengue (vaccine). We got permission yesterday. There is no vaccine for dengue yet (in India). This will be a very big milestone. We have completed all animal trials and have now been granted permission for human trials."
The centres for Phase I trials of the vaccine have already been identified. Dr Anand Kumar said he was hopeful that the vaccine would be launched in another two years.
Aside from IIL, there are two other pharma companies in the race to create a dengue vaccine — Panacea Biotec Limited and Sanofi India Private Limited. Both have been permitted to conduct clinical trials.
Panacea Biotech Limited has completed Phase-1 and Phase-2 trials. The vaccine is called 'DengiAll' and is a single-dose live-attenuated tetravalent vaccine.
Dr Lalitendu Mohanty, Head of Clinical Research, in a 2021 press release said, "Dengue fever's unique characteristics make vaccine development tricky and an ideal dengue vaccine must be safe and offer balanced and robust immune response against all four dengue serotypes".
Sanofi India Private Limited has started conducting vaccine trials in India. It has already been approved in the US.
According to the National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC), 1,93,245 cases of dengue and 346 deaths were reported across the country last year.
The World Health Organisation has stated that dengue is one of the top ten global health threats. Dengue has four virus serotypes, each of which can cause dengue fever or severe Dengue. The prevalence of individual serotypes varies across different geographies, countries, regions, seasons and over time.