The Department of Health (DoH) will convene this week an independent panel that will review the results of the clinical trials of Dengvaxia, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said on Tuesday. Duque said the team will review the results of the five-year observation period found in clinical trials as well as data from the post-marketing surveillance of the Food and Drug Administration and the post-immunization report of the department’s Epidemiology bureau. Earlier, the Health department sought the assistance of experts from the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital to validate alleged dengue vaccine deaths. “We leave it to the appropriate courts to conduct their own independent investigation and to determine whether all the legal requirements were satisfactorily met in the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine,” the Health chief said. The DoH suspended the dengue immunization program following the advisory of Sanofi Pasteur, manufacturer of Dengvaxia, that the vaccine may cause severe dengue on those who had not be exposed to the dengue virus.

Source: Manila Times December 26, 2017 16:18 UTC