The Philippines Department of Justice said Feb. 21 it has found sufficient evidence to charge the president of Sanofi over the drugmakers' alleged role in a scandal involving its dengue vaccine, CNN reported.
Sanofi's vaccine for dengue — a mosquito-borne viral infection that causes a severe flu-like illness — was used to immunize more than 830,000 children in the Philippines in 2016.
But by the end of 2017, evidence surfaced showing that the vaccine, called Dengvaxia, can cause severe illness in people who hadn't previously been infected by the disease.
The Philippines government ordered Sanofi to pull the vaccine off the market, but Sanofi argued the vaccine was still safe for people who had already had a dengue infection, according to CNN.
Filipino prosecutors said clinical trials weren't completed before the vaccine was given in the Philippines, and the children vaccinated weren't monitored for adverse reactions.
The Philippines Justice Department said it has found sufficient evidence to charge the president of Sanofi for violating the country's consumer act for manufacturing a "defective product," CNN reported
"The panel found that Sanofi indirectly admitted that Dengvaxia is a defective product due to the risk it poses to seronegatives, or to those who have not previously contracted the Dengue disease," the Justice Department said, according to CNN.
The Justice Department also found sufficient evidence to charge the Philippines' former Health Secretary Janette Garin of "reckless imprudence resulting in homicide" over deaths that resulted from the vaccine.
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