Sanofi Pasteur to refund DOH for unused Dengvaxia

MANILA, Philippines — Sanofi Pasteur has agreed to the Department of Health’s demand to pay it back for  unused Dengvaxia vials worth P1.4 billion.

But the French pharmaceutical giant clarified that its decision to refund the unused doses of the controversial vaccine is “not related to any safety or quality issue with Dengvaxia.”

“Rather Sanofi Pasteur hopes that this decision will allow us to be able to work more openly and constructively with the DOH to address the negative tone toward the dengue vaccine in the Philippines today,” it said in a statement.

“Sanofi Pasteur strongly believes that this tone is due to a misunderstanding of the benefits and risks associated with the dengue vaccine and a lack of awareness among the general public that the overall benefit of dengue vaccination remains positive in high endemic countries like the Philippines,” Sanofi added.

The company said that it aims to restore public trust in vaccination programs as it requested for a meeting with the health department to discuss the reimbursement and inform the public “in a more balanced and evidence-based way” on dengue vaccination.

Last week, DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said that he had sent two demand letters to Sanofi Pasteur Asia Pacific head Thomas Triomphe asking to refund the unused Dengvaxia vials.

He also demanded Sanofi conduct serotesting of more than 830,000 individuals who were immunized by Dengvaxia to determine their pre-vaccination status, but maintained that the cost should be shouldered by the company.

The department halted its dengue vaccination program following the disclosure of Sanofi that Dengvaxia poses potential risk to those who had no prior dengue infection.

The mass vaccination program was introduced by former Health Secretary Janette Garin.