India’s first dengue vaccine is expected to become commercially available in the first half of 2027, Takeda’s India chief, Peter Streibl, told News18. As India grapples with an 11-fold rise in dengue burden over two decades, Streibl, general manager for Southeast Asia and India Cluster, told News18 that the company’s dengue vaccine QDENGA — recently granted marketing authorisation in India — should not be seen as a cure-all solution but similar to what all vaccines are expected to do. “Vaccination could prove to be an important tool in disease prevention but should not be viewed as a silver bullet,” he said, adding that it should instead be seen as “an important additional layer in India’s dengue control strategy.” Streibl said that the vaccine was
“specifically designed to assess safety, efficacy, and any potential risk of disease enhancement across all four dengue virus serotypes,” with long-term data continuing to show overall efficacy across all four through seven years. On affordability, Streibl stopped short of naming a price, saying Takeda’s “immediate priority now is on completing the necessary local processes with the authorities” before the vaccine becomes available. He said the company is “committed to provide broad, equitable, timely and sustainable access at a cost that reflects the value of the vaccine, as well as societal and economic benefits,” and that the private sector would be the initial focus while Takeda works toward eventual inclusion in National Immunisation Programmes. QDENGA comes even as India’s dengue season appears to be starting earlier than in previous years. India has already reported 6,927 dengue cases by the end of February 2026, according to the National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC) — a striking figure given that just 6,837 cases were recorded during the entire five-month January–May period in 2021, and 10,172 cases over the same five-month window in 2022.
Road Ahead
On government talks, Streibl welcomed a parliamentary committee recommendation to consider QDENGA’s inclusion in the Universal Immunisation Programme, but stressed that “any decision on inclusion in the UIP rests with the Government of India and its relevant expert and empowered committees.”
On manufacturing, QDENGA is currently produced in Germany, at Takeda’s Singen facility. A partnership with Hyderabad-based Biological E is expected to add capacity for “up to 50 million doses annually through multi-dose vials,” as part of Takeda’s goal of reaching 100 million doses a year globally by 2030.
Efficacy, Safety and the Serotype Challenge
Tracing the vaccine’s origins to a 1964 dengue patient at Prince Mahidol University in Thailand, Streibl said the DENV-2 isolate from that case eventually became the genetic backbone of QDENGA, developed through a programme spanning 19 clinical trials and more than 28,000 participants across 13 countries. The vaccine is now WHO-prequalified and approved in 43 countries, with over 30 million doses distributed globally since 2022.
On efficacy, he addressed what he called the “biggest misconception” — that a vaccine offering less than 100% protection cannot make a difference. In the pivotal Phase III TIDES study, he said, QDENGA showed “80.2% efficacy against virologically confirmed dengue at 12 months after the second dose and 90.4% efficacy against dengue-related hospitalisation at 18 months,” with exploratory data through 4.5 years showing “61.2% overall efficacy against virologically confirmed dengue and 84.1% efficacy against hospitalisation.” In simpler terms, he said, the vaccine “prevented approximately eight out of ten cases of virologically confirmed dengue.”
On the risk of antibody-dependent enhancement — where a second dengue infection can be more severe than the first — Streibl said the TIDES trial, involving over 20,000 participants with baseline serostatus testing for all, showed “no evidence of increased disease severity among vaccine recipients, including those who were without dengue infection.” He added that seven-year follow-up data, including an exploratory booster-dose analysis, “confirm the favourable benefit and risk profile of QDENGA” and found that a booster “only marginally increased efficacy, supporting the current two-dose schedule.”
Age Group, Testing & Dengvaxia Comparison
Explaining why India’s approval covers the 4–60 age group, Streibl said the range “was determined by the Indian regulatory authority following its review of the clinical evidence submitted by Takeda.”
While the pivotal TIDES study established efficacy in children and adolescents aged 4–16, adult efficacy relied on immunobridging — comparing immune responses to the paediatric population — and a 480-participant Indian Phase III study, DEN-302, found immune responses “consistent with the global clinical development programme.”
He noted QDENGA is approved for those 4 and older in the European Union, but “the current Indian indication does not extend beyond 60 years.”
On why no pre-vaccination testing is required — a departure from the experience with Dengvaxia — Streibl was careful to note QDENGA “has not been evaluated in a head-to-head study with Dengvaxia; therefore, we cannot make direct comparisons.”
He pointed instead to QDENGA’s design, a “DENV-2 virus backbone, with structural proteins from DENV-1, DENV-3 and DENV-4,” and to the TIDES trial’s inclusion of both dengue-exposed and dengue-naïve participants with baseline testing, which showed “no evidence of increased disease severity.”
