Date: 2016-02-02
Type of information: Initiation of development program
phase:
Announcement: initiation of development program
Company: Sanofi Pasteur (France)
Product: Zika virus vaccine
Action mechanism:
Disease: Zika virus infection
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Country:
Trial details:
Latest
news: * On February 2, 2016, Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi, announced that it has launched a vaccine research and development project targeting the prevention of Zika virus infection and disease. The ZIKV is closely related to Dengue; it belongs to the same Flavivirus genus, is spread by the same species of mosquito and has a similar acute clinical presentation. Common symptoms caused by a Zika infection include fever, rash, joint swelling, conjunctivitis and headaches. However, there is a growing body of evidence linking Zika infection in pregnant women with an increased risk of a severe congenital complication at birth called microcephaly. Normally a rare condition, microcephaly results in an abnormally small head impairing brain development. Sanofi Pasteur\'s expertise and established R&D and industrial infrastructure for the newly licensed vaccine for dengue, Dengvaxia®, can be rapidly leveraged to help understand the spread of Zika virus and potentially speed identification of a vaccine candidate for further clinical development.
