Sanofi ($SNY) is moving into 2016 with a head of steam for its Dengvaxia launch, with execs announcing on the company's year-end conference call that the French pharma has delivered its first million doses in the Philippines.
In addition, Sanofi is in advanced discussions in the endemic nation for an additional three million doses at a "target price" of €20 a dose for an upcoming public launch, CEO Olivier Brandicourt said.
So far, Sanofi has received Dengvaxia marketing approvals in Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador and the Philippines, with 16 others pending in endemic nations in Latin America and Asia. On the call, Brandicourt described 2016 as a "year of transition" as the launch moves from approvals to vaccination campaigns in "priority countries." Brandicourt also said that based on what's known, analyst consensus figures of €200 million for this year make "a lot of sense to us."
Last month, Sanofi Pasteur's dengue program head Guillaume Leroy told FierceVaccines the company is working with public health authorities on establishing vaccination campaigns country by country. He added that in some cases the company is utilizing mathematical models, with one such model demonstrating that vaccination of 20% of a population most exposed to dengue can reduce a country's caseload by 50%. Over the next 5 years, Leroy said, Sanofi expects "significant demand" for the vaccine, and could sell between 60 million and 80 million doses per year.
Sanofi spent $1.5 billion and 20 years developing the vaccine and is implementing a new strategy of "flipping the model" by launching the vaccine in endemic nations rather than in the U.S. and Europe.
- here's the conference call transcript from Seeking Alpha
- read more from FiercePharmaAsia