Philippines
to seek refund of $59 million from Sanofi amid vaccine
risk
Send a link to a friend
[December 08, 2017] By
Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines will
seek the return of 3 billion pesos ($59 million) it paid French
drugmaker Sanofi for a dengue vaccine used to immunize hundreds of
thousands of children that Sanofi has said could worsen the disease in
some cases.
|
"We will demand the refund of the 3 billion (pesos) paid for the
Dengvaxia and (demand) that Sanofi set up an indemnification fund to
cover the hospitalization and medical treatment of all children who
might have severe dengue," Health Secretary Francisco Duque told
reporters on Friday.
The Philippines last week suspended a national immunization program
after Sanofi's recent findings that there was a risk of severe
dengue occurring in previously uninfected people who were inoculated
with Dengvaxia. Manila also halted sale of the vaccine in the
country and has ordered a probe into the matter.

Duque said the number of children, ages 9 and above, inoculated with
Dengvaxia has risen to about 830,000 from an initial estimate of
nearly 734,000 after further verification by the Department of
Health.
The state program, which was launched in 2016, cost 3.5 billion
pesos and Duque earlier said the government has already paid 3
billion pesos to Sanofi.
Sanofi's Philippines office did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.
Sanofi officials said on Monday in Manila that there had been no
reported deaths related to the vaccine.
Duque, citing the drugmaker's disclosure and studies, said Dengvaxia
was meant to provide 30-month protection against dengue to those
vaccinated, including those who did not have any prior dengue
infection.
[to top of second column] |

But he said the case of a 12-year old girl in Tarlac province, north
of the capital Manila, who completed the three-dose vaccine
treatment and showed symptoms of severe dengue, seemed to have
defied that.
She was first inoculated with Dengvaxia in March 2016 and received
the third and last dose in August this year, the health minister
said.
Asked whether the case showed the effectiveness of the vaccine was
questionable, Duque said: "Most certainly."
Dengue is a mosquito-borne tropical disease that kills about 20,000
people a year and infects hundreds of millions.
(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Additional reporting by Neil
Jerome Morales; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 |