Clinical trial results signal 'promise, unresolved challenges' in finding effective dengue vaccine

The first-ever results from a dengue virus vaccine clinical trial aimed at showing effectiveness "provide signals rather than definitive answers, and a mixture of both promise and unresolved challenges," Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center, and Ciro de Quadros, executive vice president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, write in the Huffington Post "Impact" blog. "To date, these represent the most promising indications that a safe, effective vaccine to prevent dengue is technically feasible," they continue, adding, "At the same time, the results on protection were inconclusive, somewhat inconsistent with the measured immune responses and uneven across the four strains included in the vaccine."

"Fortunately, a much larger trial already underway in 10 different countries is likely to tell us by 2014 if the signals observed in this trial are accurate or not," Levine and de Quadros note, saying "[i]t will be important to see the results of the larger trial and the effectiveness of the vaccine in different epidemiological settings." They continue, "We at the Dengue Vaccine Initiative (DVI) will continue to follow the progress of Sanofi's vaccine as we work to lay the foundations for the adoption and rollout of a licensed dengue vaccine in the future," concluding, "In the meantime, the dengue virus better look out. A safe, effective vaccine might be right on its tail and about to overtake it" (9/12).