MANILA, Philippines — A new vaccine against dengue may be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within 2024, said Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa on Wednesday.
Herbosa was referring to TAK-003, which was developed by Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda and has already been prequalified by the World Health Organization.
“Kinausap ko na sila last year at nag-apply na rin sila ng CPR (certificate of product registration), iyong rehistro sa ating FDA. So, iyon hinihintay lang natin ang FDA. Ang FDA medyo aaralin pa iyong mga sina-submit nilang mga requirements at kapag na-approved iyan, dadating,” said Herbosa in a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon pre-Sona special.
(I talked to them last year and they also already applied for a CPR, the registration for our FDA. So, that’s all we’re waiting for the FDA. The FDA will still study the requirements they submitted and when it’s approved, it will come).
“The usual process takes about a year eh. So, kung last year nag-apply na sila, anytime this year lalabas na iyan (if they applied last year, it will be approved any time this year),” the health secretary said when asked how long the FDA study usually takes.
Dengue vector control
However, Herbosa in the same briefing said that vector control remains to be the best solution against the spread of dengue.
Such control measures, said Herbosa, include searching and destroying mosquito breeding grounds, using insect repellants, and fogging or spraying local hotspots or outbreak areas.
“Hindi bakuna ang solusyon, [kundi] vector control … [ito] ang importanteng solusyon sa dengue during the [rainy] season, kasi kapag season iyan, kahit magbakuna ka pa ng madaming tao, useless iyon, kasi you need two doses. So, hindi bakuna ang solusyon natin dito sa dengue season natin ngayon, [dapat] vector control,” said Herbosa.
(The solution is not a vaccine, but vector control… this is the important solution to dengue during the rainy season, because during that season, even if you vaccinate a lot of people, it’s useless because you need two doses. So, our solution to our current dengue season is not a vaccine, but vector control.)
Apart from existing vector control measures, Herbosa said the DOH is eyeing to study the “Wolbachia program,” a type of vector control utilized in Indonesia where a certain bacteria is deliberately spread among mosquitoes to prevent the infection of dengue.
The Department of Health earlier warned the public of a possible increase in Dengue cases amid the rainy season, noting a 15 percent increase in this year’s infections at 77,688 as of June 15, compared to the previous year’s.
READ: DOH notes small hike in dengue but warns cases may still go up