Philippines to demand refund from Sanofi over payment for controversial dengue vaccine

MANILA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine health chief said on Friday that the government will demand the refund of over 69 million U.S. dollars it has paid French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur for the controversial dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said in a statement that the government will also demand that Sanofi shoulder the medical expenses that may be incurred on school children that were administered by the vaccine.

"We will demand the refund of the 3.5 billion pesos (69 million U.S. dollars) paid for the Dengvaxia, and that Sanofi set up an indemnification fund to cover the hospitalization and medical treatment for all children who might have severe dengue," Duque said in a statement.

Duque said the government has created a task force that will monitor cases related to the school-based immunization using the tervalent dengue vaccine.

"This is part of the agency's commitment to closely monitor and attend to the health of those immunized with the vaccines, even after the immunization activities were put on hold," he said.

Duque said the task force "will conduct a thorough review of the dengue vaccination initiative which started March 2016 and the new evidence on safety provided by Sanofi."

Meanwhile, the Department of Health reiterated its commitment to heighten surveillance and monitoring activities on all 830,000 students vaccinated with Dengvaxia.

Duque said the Department of Health will be hiring 30 additional surveillance officers to be deployed immediately to its hospitals in the four regions where the anti-dengue vaccination were conducted.

"Surveillance will be done for five years. This is part of our commitment to the parents and children who were immunized with the anti-dengue vaccines," he said.

Duque said Department of Health is currently updating the master list of children given Dengvaxia in coordination with field offices and the Department of Education.

He said the Task Force on Dengvaxia will have a legal team to look into the accountability of Sanofi Pasteur, the company which marketed Dengvaxia with an initial claim that the vaccine was safe and effective for all individuals aged nine to 45 years old.

The French pharmaceutical giant later on acknowledged that the vaccine is not recommended for people who have had no prior dengue infection lest the vaccination increases the risk of severe dengue.

As this disclosure was made only after the health department had already vaccinated thousands of school children, the news created a scare among parents and the public.

On Wednesday, Duque said the government is mulling filing charges against Sanofi over the release of Dengvaxia that the manufacturer said can cause "severe disease" for patients who had not had the virus prior to vaccination. Enditem