NEW DELHI: India plans to roll out indigenous vaccines as well as safe, affordable treatment for dengue, the most widespread and rapidly increasing vector-borne disease in the world, within the next three to five years, experts said here on Thursday.
“DNDi is working with its partners in India and other endemic countries through the Dengue Alliance to advance a pipeline of dengue treatments. We believe that a dengue treatment can be potentially made available to patients within the next five years,” said Dr Sanjay Sarin, Asia Continental Lead and Director, South Asia, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a not-for-profit medical research organisation that discovers, develops, and delivers safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected populations.
“For a disease that has had no treatment for decades, this is no small step,” Dr Sarin told this paper on the sidelines of a day-long conference, ‘Dengue at a Crossroads: Confronting the Burden, Closing the Care Gap’.
On the treatment, he said they are working on both oral and injectable medicines. “The idea is that if the medicine can act in the first four to five days of a person getting infected, the patient does not have to go to hospital.”
He said they are partnering in India with the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), a premier autonomous research institute under the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, to develop the drugs.
“They are essentially helping us with the pre-clinical work. Whenever you have a new drug molecule, you first need to test it in animals. They are conducting animal studies for us,” he added.
“Our focus is on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Over the next few years, we will complete the trials and bring these treatments to market. The vaccines will come much sooner,” Dr Sarin added.
India, which tops the list of the 30 most highly endemic countries in the world, has recently approved Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., a Japanese pharma company, for its tetravalent dengue vaccine, TAK-003, called Qdenga.
The vaccine received approval from the Subject Expert Committee under the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for use in people aged 4 to 60 years on April 11.
India's dengue vaccine pipeline also includes an indigenous vaccine named DengiAll, developed by Panacea Biotec in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which is undergoing Phase III clinical trials. The market launch is projected by 2027.
On the treatment protocol, Dr Sarin said that while there is stronger surveillance, improved scientific understanding, and growing partnerships, patients still lack access to specific treatment options.
“Addressing this gap requires sustained commitment from governments, funders, and partners,” he added.
He further said that the Dengue Alliance, a global partnership led by institutions from dengue-endemic countries, is accelerating efforts by bringing together stakeholders to advance research, align priorities, and support the development of safe, accessible and affordable treatments.
India reported over 289,000 dengue cases in 2023, with experts warning that case counts are significantly underreported due to gaps in surveillance, making the push for better diagnostics, therapeutics, and coordinated financing not merely timely, but urgent, said Dr Catharina Boehme, Officer in charge, World Health Organization South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO).
“Climate change is quietly rewriting the ecology of vector-borne diseases, and dengue is at the centre of that shift. India is already seeing the early signs. But we are not standing still: homegrown vaccine candidates are moving through the clinical pipeline, therapeutics are a real possibility, and frameworks are being developed at the highest levels of government, from the Ministry of Health to the National Disaster Management Authority,” said Dr Vinod Paul, Member, NITI Aayog.
“The ecosystem of science in this nation has woken up. We are looking forward to a dramatic shift, not just in how we treat dengue, but in how we prevent it altogether,” he added.
Dr Taruna Madan Gupta, Scientist G and Head, Development Research Division, ICMR, said dengue is unequivocally a national health priority for India, and the response has been deliberate, step by step, and increasingly comprehensive.
“Today, India is advancing on multiple fronts, from strengthening public health systems to enabling public-private partnerships, including Phase III trials of an indigenous tetravalent dengue vaccine with over 10,000 participants, and regulatory progress on global vaccines.
“However, a critical gap remains: the absence of an effective therapeutic for dengue. Through collaborations with global and national partners, we are actively working to bridge this gap and remain committed to delivering impactful solutions in the near future,” Dr Gupta added.