Six months after Takeda’s dengue vaccine Qdenga scored its first approval in Indonesia, another large dengue-affected country has signed off on the shot. And with a Brazilian approval in hand, the company has unveiled its pricing and access approach to the key launch.
Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency has signed off on Qdenga, making the country the first in Latin America to approve the shot. Last year, Brazil reported more than 1.4 million cases of dengue and more than 1,000 deaths from the disease.
“This important momentum continues to drive us toward our ultimate goal of providing broad access for this vaccine,” Takeda’s CEO Christophe Weber wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Scientific innovation means nothing if we’re not able to provide medicines and vaccines to those in need.”
As for pricing, the company aims to make Qdenga available to all who are eligible at three different pricing tiers: private endemic, public endemic and travel markets.
For one example of pricing in the private endemic market, Takeda said the maximum retail price tag in Indonesia will be $40 per dose. That’s a big step down from Indonesia’s average price for innovative vaccines, which stands at $73 per dose, Takeda said in its presentation (PDF).
Takeda's Qdenga is given in a two-dose series three months apart.
Per-dose prices will come in lower for the public endemic market, Takeda said. And in the travel market, Qdenga’s price will be similar to other travel shots in a given country, the company said.
For example, the retail price in Germany is $115 per dose, the company said. That’s close to Germany’s average vaccine price of $119 per dose.
The company believes the vaccine can create “significant” cost savings for governments by helping offset other expenses including costs of healthcare, missed work and lost tourism income.
After the shot's first approval in Indonesia in September, Qdenga scored a key nod in Europe in December. With that approval, a special regulatory pathway gives officials in certain endemic countries the chance to use the vaccine. In the U.S., the FDA is reviewing the company's application under its priority review process.
Takeda aims to launch in more than 20 countries by 2025. The company projects peak sales of up to $2 billion for the vaccine.