Takeda Pharmaceutical has just started a clinical trial program backed by the U.S. government for the Zika virus.
Takeda and Sanofi have been both been developing similar vaccines using inactivated or killed whole Zika virus. This development pushes the Japanese company ahead of its competition. Taking place in the United States, Takeda is expecting results next year from its 240-patient Phase I Zika vaccine clinical trial.
However, even if Takeda succeeds in Phase I studies, it will still need go through two more stages until it is ready for approval, placing the timeline for a vaccine sometime in the 2020s.
Read the Reuters report