Sanofi-Aventis: Dengue fever vaccine in clinical development

LYON, France A vaccine for the mosquito-borne illness dengue fever is in the final stages of development, Sanofi-Aventis said Thursday.

Sanofi said the first phase-3 trial of the vaccine was under way in Australia.

The study is part of a worldwide phase-3 trial program to develop the vaccine for children and adults. Currently, there is no specific treatment available for the disease, which threatens nearly 3 billion people worldwide, particularly in Latin America and Asia. Dengue fever is a virus that infects around 220 million people every year, 2 million of whom — most of them children — develop dengue hemorrhagic fever.