Takeda & Biological E Partner for Dengue Vaccine Access

Hyderabad, Feb 27 (PTI) Takeda, a global biopharmaceutical company and Biological E. Limited (BE) on Tuesday announced a strategic partnership to accelerate access to Qdenga (Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine [Live, Attenuated]) (TAK-003), multi-dose vials (MDVs).

A press release from Takeda said these doses will ultimately be made available for procurement by governments in endemic countries by 2030 at the latest to support National Immunisation Programmes.

As per the partnership, BE will ramp up to a manufacturing capacity of up to 50 million doses a year, accelerating Takeda's efforts to manufacture 100 million doses a year within the decade.

The partnership will build upon existing manufacturing capacity for the vaccine at Takeda's facility in Singen, Germany and Takeda's long-term partnership with IDT Biologika GmbH.

MDVs offer economic and logistical advantages for National Immunisation Programmes by minimising packaging and storage expenses, while also reducing medical and environmental waste, it further said.

"We are proud to announce a strategic manufacturing partnership with Biological E. Limited, which has deep expertise in vaccine manufacturing and longstanding support of public health programmes around the world.

"Together, we will help combat dengue on a global scale by significantly increasing manufacturing capacity for multi-dose vials of Qdenga to drive sustainable access to the vaccine in more endemic countries," Gary Dubin, president of the Global Vaccine Business Unit at Takeda, said.

"We are proud to collaborate with Takeda in the production of their groundbreaking Dengue Tetravalent Vaccine, Qdenga, in multi-dose vials," Mahima Datla, managing director at Biological E. Limited said.

Qdenga is currently available for children and adults in the private market in countries in Europe, Indonesia and Thailand, and in private and some public programmes in Argentina and Brazil. TAK-003 is not approved for use in India.