DOH says it is bent on suing Sanofi

FILE: Francisco Duque III (Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday vowed that his department would never stop running after Sanofi Pasteur, saying they are hastening the filing of cases against the pharmaceutical giant over the Dengvaxia controversy.

“I have forwarded the letter to the legal department and ordered that a civil suit be instituted against Sanofi Pasteur,” said Duque, referring to the company’s letter stating its refusal to refund the estimated PHP1.6 billion spent by the government to procure the vaccine for its mass dengue immunization program.

The department wants to use the amount to set up an indemnification fund for Dengvaxia recipients, whose health needs to be monitored for years.

Duque assured that the department would exhaust all legal remedies against Sanofi, noting that they are confident that they have a strong case against the multinational company.

“Prior to the November 29, 2017 announcement, Sanofi Pasteur never issued a warning or precaution regarding the vaccine’s use among individuals who have had no prior dengue infection. It was only on this announcement that Sanofi Pasteur revealed that Dengvaxia poses a heightened risk of contracting severe dengue to seronegative individuals,” he said.

The health chief said that by the time of the announcement, about 837,000 children had already been vaccinated with Dengvaxia.

In a statement issued Monday, Sanofi declined the department’s second request for a refund.

“We stand firmly behind our product. Refunding the used doses of Dengvaxia would imply that the vaccine is ineffective, which is not the case. And at this time, there is also no known circumstance requiring indemnification,” Sanofi said.

The company also asserted that no vaccine is 100 percent protective, and that Dengvaxia has never claimed 100 percent efficacy in its approved label.

Sanofi however offered to “sit down with the Department of Health to find other ways we can assist their efforts to combat dengue in the Philippines and restoring public trust in vaccines”.

The department first requested for a refund in a letter dated February 5.