Japanese Vaccine Company Targets Zika Vaccine Development

The Financial Times recently reported Gary Dubin, president of Takeda's global vaccine business, said one of the company's brightest prospects is for a vaccine targeting a mosquito-borne disease, the Zika virus.

Since 2016, Takeda has been collaborating with the U.S. government, which has agreed to supply up to $312 million in funding to the vaccine development program.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited announced that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority had selected Takeda's Vaccine Business Unit to develop a vaccine to support the Zika response in the U.S. and affected regions worldwide.

"Zika is another potentially vital vaccine to introduce from a public health perspective, and because the same mosquito transmits both dengue and Zika viruses, there are some natural synergies there," commented Dubin on August 29, 2022.

Takeda's TAK-426 (PIZV) is a purified, inactivated, alum-adjuvanted, whole Zika virus vaccine candidate.

On January 29, 2018, Takeda's Zika Vaccine candidate received U.S. FDA Fast Track Designation.