The Department of Health (DOH) has asked French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur to refund the Philippine government P1.4 billion for the unused Dengvaxia vaccine, as it awaits results of the evaluation of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) on alleged Dengvaxia immunization-related deaths.
In a letter sent to Thomas Triomphe, head of Sanofi Pasteur Asia Pacific, the DOH laid down its refund demand for Sanofi, as it also sent another letter requesting Sanofi Pasteur to conduct serotesting of the more than 830,000 vaccines using a newly developed test to determine their prevaccination status at no cost to the government.
The DOH also requested all documents on the ongoing clinical trials and other studies involving Dengvaxia in the Philippines, including proof that they have passed ethics review standards of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD).
Sanofi, on the other hand, said it acknowledged “the request made by the Department of Health (DOH) Francisco T. Duque III, for the reimbursement of unused doses of Dengvaxia.”
“We have recently asked for a meeting with Secretary Duque to discuss this issue directly, which we hope can take place in the very near future,” it added.
Duque said the DOH has yet to receive an official response from Sanofi Pasteur on the demand letters.
“The Dengvaxia vaccine that Sanofi Pasteur aggressively promoted and sold to the Philippine government has undeniably failed to deliver its supposed clinical benefit and safety claims, hence, the vaccine is considered defective under Philippine civil laws,” he added.
The DOH has halted its dengue-vaccination program after Sanofi Pasteur released an advisory on Dengvaxia, which indicated potential risk to those who have not been exposed to dengue prior to immunization.
“The risk benefit ratio of Dengvaxia has significantly changed as the risk caused by the introduction of the vaccine to seronegative people has greatly outweighed its benefits, if any,” Duque explained.
Duque said that based on official data from the Epidemiology Bureau, four out of 17 deaths following immunization of Dengvaxia were found to have been due to dengue shock. Other deaths were among children who had other illnesses and comorbidities.
“Based on the Dengvaxia Surveillance Update on January 10, 2018, from the Epidemiology Bureau, four of the 17 cases being looked into identify dengue shock as cause of death,” Duque said.
The DOH also emphasized that there is no conclusion yet on whether the administration of Dengvaxia caused the death of the vaccinees. A panel of Philippine General Hospital independent experts is currently evaluating the clinical records of these cases.
The DOH reiterated its earlier statement that it is willing to cooperate with ongoing investigations being conducted by the Department of Justice and the Public Attorney’s Office.
“We welcome these investigations as complementary to our efforts at finding the truth about this matter,” Duque said.
Meanwhile, the DOH, upon orders of the Supreme Court, is preparing its comment on the petition for mandamus urging the DOH and other government agencies to provide free medical services and treatment to vaccinees.
1 comment
Why only for the unused one? They need to refund, with interest, for all those defective meds they sold to the PH. Plus they need to go to jail for bribery!