The agreement will cover the Asia Pacific region and will include Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan, and parts of Australia. Approximately 30,000 to 50,000 people suffer annually from the disease and this is mainly in Asia.
Acambis has granted Sanofi Pasteur marketing, distribution and certain manufacturing rights to ChimeriVax-JE worldwide excluding India and the Indian subcontinent and the US for which Sanofi has an option. Acambis will also receive royalties on sales and payment for the supply of bulk ChimeriVax-JE product.
“We believe a single dose vaccine will hold significant advantages for use in routine immunization programs in a region where several billion people live,” said Dave Williams, chief executive officer of Sanofi Pasteur.
Acambis has published positive data from its phase III safety trial which showed that ChimeriVax-JE vaccine requires only one dose for adequate protection against Japanese encephalitis versus two to three doses required with current vaccines.