The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and Inviragen, Inc. announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding “with the ultimate objective of making a dengue vaccine widely accessible to people in countries where this disease is endemic.” The IVI, through the Dengue Vaccine Initiative (DVI), “is developing strategies to raise awareness of the need to invest in research and development of a dengue vaccine, and to finance the development and distribution of vaccines, goals which will be furthered through this collaboration with Inviragen.” As part of the collaboration, IVI and Inviragen “also aim to strengthen the regulatory and policy environments to accelerate dengue vaccine development and introduction, and to raise funding to assist low- and middle-income countries with procuring available vaccine candidates.”  The announcement noted that “no specific treatment or reliable prevention method exists for the infection whose reach, already endemic in more than 120 countries, continues to grow. A safe, effective and affordable dengue vaccine would represent a powerful tool against this major public health threat, which is the world’s most important vector borne viral disease.”  Earlier this year, IVI announced the launch of the DVI, in collaboration with the Sabin Vaccine Institute, the Johns Hopkins University, and the World Health Organization. The DVI “aims to increase the global priority given to dengue vaccines through evidence-based research to inform policy.” http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110802007473/en/CORRECTING-REPLACING-International-Vaccine-Institute-Inviragen-Announce