Thailand successfully produced the world's first vaccine against dengue fever

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Thailand successfully produced the world's first vaccine against dengue fever
NNT 2011-02-21

BANGKOK, 21 February 2011 (NNT)-Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) is full of praise for a team of scientists who have successfully produced a vaccine against dengue fever, while showing confidence that the vaccine it will be ready for human treatment within the next 3 years.

According to Ministry of Science and Technology Dr. Veerachai Veerametheekul, the vaccine has been developed with the collaboration of researchers consisting of Dr. Poonsuk Keerapang from the Chiang Mai University, Associate Professor Dr. Nopporn Sittisombut, the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and Associate Professor Dr. Suthee Yoklan from Mahidol University.

The success, funded by the NSTDA, has been hailed as the world’s first dengue fever vaccine; however, the vaccine has so far been proven effective in mice, and has yet to be tested on human. According to the report, the vaccine will be further developed and tested in human by Bio Net Asia Company Limited and is expected to be available in the next 3 years.
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Bio Net Asia given rights to develop dengue-fever vaccine
By Jutharat Thipnampa
The Nation
2011-02-22

After 30 years of research, the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) has passed on the technology of producing a dengue-fever vaccine to the private sector, which will take up to 10 years developing the vaccine for commercial use and have it ready for tests on large animals.

If successful, this live-attenuated recombinant vaccine - the third-generation vaccine developed from a prototype created by Mahidol and Chiang Mai University in the 30-year study that was funded by the NTSDA - would be the first of its kind in the world.

President of Bio Net Asia, Withoon Wonghankul, said yesterday that the NTSDA had given his company the right to develop the vaccine, which would cover four virus strains in one shot. He added that the vaccine strain from the NTSDA research had high potential in being developed commercially, even though it might take up to 10 years to produce and be ready for tests on large animals. Bio Net Asia has spent the past decade producing as well as importing and exporting vaccines. It is currently producing a vaccine for pertussis, a highly contagious bacterial disease that causes uncontrollable coughing.

Meanwhile, Chiang Mai University researcher Dr Poonsuk Keerapang said the dengue-fever vaccine was developed by using genetic engineering to create a hybrid strain of viruses found in Thailand, so it could prevent illnesses from four different virus strains at the same time.

Dr Suthee Yoksan, a researcher from Mahidol University, said about 600,000 people or 1 per cent of the Thai population suffered from dengue fever, with a third of the patients developing symptoms and a fifth of them dying.