THE Philippines has fined Sanofi P100,000 and suspended clearance for the French drug maker’s controversial dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, citing violations on product registration and marketing, its health secretary said on Thursday.

Concerns over the dengue immunization of nearly 734,000 children aged nine and above resulted in two congressional inquiries and a criminal investigation as to how the danger to public health came about.

Sanofi was ordered to stop the sale, distribution and marketing of Dengvaxia after the company last month warned the vaccine could worsen the disease in some cases.

“They were fined and their certificate of product registration was suspended,” Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III told Reuters.

The Food and Drugs Administration found Sanofi violating post-marketing surveillance requirements, he added.

Sanofi was not immediately available for comment.

The government spent P3.5 billion ($70.2 million) for the Dengvaxia public immunization program in 2016 to reduce the 200,000 dengue cases reported every year. — Reuters

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