Japan-based pharmaceutical company Takeda has announced that the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunisation has shared recommendations for use of QDENGA (Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine [Live, Attenuated]) (TAK-003).

In the coming months, the WHO will consider the SAGE recommendation and update its position paper on dengue vaccines to include final guidance on the use of QDENGA in public vaccination programmes.

Dengue fever is among the most common mosquito-borne viral diseases worldwide. It is endemic in more than 100 countries and causes an estimated 390 million infections each year. While many dengue infections are asymptomatic or produce only mild illness, dengue can occasionally cause more severe disease, and even death. Dengue is also a leading cause of fever among travelers returning from Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.

SAGE reviewed data across 19 Phase 1, 2 and 3 trials with more than 28,000 children and adults, including the pivotal Phase 3 Tetravalent Immunisation against Dengue Efficacy Study (TIDES) trial, which was designed according to the WHO’s guidance for a second-generation dengue vaccine. QDENGA has been generally well tolerated and no important safety risks have been identified in the TIDES trial, to date.

QDENGA is currently available for children and adults in the private market in countries in Europe, Indonesia and Brazil, and will be available in Argentina and Thailand soon.