Singapore: Takeda Pharmaceutical is developing a vaccine against norovirus, also known as the winter vomiting bug. Dr Rajeev Venkkaya, head, vaccines unit, Takeda, said that a course of shots may confer lifelong protection against 95 percent of the virus' strains.

If approved, Takeda's norovirus vaccine would be the first to protect people against the germ. It would potentially add as much as $400 million in annual revenue for the Osaka-based drugmaker.