Hyderabad: Japanese firm Takeda and Biological E Limited (BE), a prominent India-based pharmaceutical company, have forged a strategic alliance aimed at providing access to QDENGA (Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine) to all. The collaboration intends to make these doses available for procurement by governments in endemic regions by 2030, facilitating National Immunization Programme.
Multi-dose vials offer economic and logistical advantages by reducing packaging and storage expenses, along with minimising medical and environmental waste.
According to the reports, the collaboration will escalate manufacturing capacity to produce up to 50 million doses annually, thereby supporting Takeda’s goal to manufacture 100 million doses per year over a decade.
The partnership will leverage existing manufacturing capabilities for the vaccine at Takeda’s Singen facility in Germany and its enduring collaboration with IDT Biologika GmbH.
Dengue fever, a widespread mosquito-borne viral disease, has witnessed a 30-fold increase globally over the past 50 years, driven by urbanisation, travel, and climate change. Prevalent in over 100 countries, dengue affects an estimated 390 million people annually, with the Americas, South-East Asia, and Western Pacific regions bearing the brunt.
Mahima Datla, managing director of Biological E. Limited, affirmed the collaboration’s importance in producing QDENGA in multi-dose vials, aligning with Takeda’s patient-centric approach and value-based research and development.
While QDENGA is currently accessible for children and adults in private markets across Europe, Indonesia, and Thailand, as well as in private and some public programmes in Argentina and Brazil, it is yet to be approved for use in India.
Takeda, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan, focuses on delivering life-transforming treatments across various therapeutic areas, including vaccines. Biological E Limited, established in 1953, is India’s first private sector biological products company, renowned for its vaccines and therapeutics supplied to over 130 countries.
