India’s DengiAll vaccine enters final Phase III trials, offering hope for a single-dose solution against the surging global dengue epidemic.
NEW DELHI: A potential single-dose dengue vaccine has entered final Phase III trials in India, raising hopes for a new tool against the surging global epidemic.
The candidate vaccine, DengiAll by Panacea Biotec, is being tested on over 10,000 volunteers across the country in a study overseen by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
“We will try to get this vaccine out there as soon as possible,” said Panacea’s chief scientific officer Syed Khalid Ali.
The World Health Organization states almost half the world’s population is now at risk of dengue, with 100-400 million infections annually.
India alone has recorded over one million cases and at least 1,500 deaths since 2021.
Doctor Ekta Gupta, a professor of clinical virology in New Delhi, said dengue is now hyperendemic in India with all four virus serotypes circulating.
“This vaccine is very much needed right now to control the occurrence of these cases, or at least prevent the severity,” she said.
Higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are expanding the habitat of the Aedes mosquito that spreads dengue.
Participants in the trial, which started in 2024, were randomly assigned to receive either the vaccine or a placebo.
Results are expected later this year, with a potential rollout as early as next year if successful.
If approved, DengiAll would become one of the world’s first single-dose dengue vaccines.
It would also be the first such vaccine available for public use in India.
“We will be the second (single-dose) vaccine to come out… But in India and several lower-middle-income countries, we will be the first ones to roll out the dengue vaccine,” Ali explained.
The candidate is based on a tetravalent strain originally developed by the US National Institutes of Health.
Doctor Priyanka Priyadarsiny, head of biological R&D at Panacea, emphasised the rigorous development process.
“We are extremely cautious about purity, safety and adverse effects,” she said.
Ali said the vaccine could be given to people aged one to 60 and is expected to offer long-term protection.
Experts say a successful Indian-made vaccine could be key to affordability and mass rollout in lower-income countries.
Virologist Shahid Jameel warned dengue incidence could rise by 50-75% by 2050 under current climate change trends.
“Phase III testing and follow-up are needed to show if the above conditions are met,” he told AFP.
“Only then can we have a useful dengue vaccine. It is still early days, but there is hope for the future.”
