Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the first issue of the PDVI News. The PDVI is a program of the International Vaccine Institute which serves as the host institution and grantee for donor funds. PDVI is one of the youngest of the new group of public sector organizations called Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) that seek to employ private sector practices to accelerate the development and introduction of new health technologies for use in developing countries. An important feature of these PDPs is close collaboration with the private sector. Also PDPs operate through networks of collaboration including key public sector organizations. In our case, we have established and will continue to work closely with colleagues at WHO and TDR.

The PDVI was officially established in 2003 following receipt of funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We have continued to receive support from them since that time. Much of the credit for the establishment and vision of PDVI goes to Dr. Scott Halstead. Scott is widely recognized as one of the world's foremost leaders, and pioneer in dengue research. He is most widely known for his hypothesis on the role of antibody dependent enhancement (ADE) in the pathogenesis of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). ADE may result when an individual who was previously infected with one of the four dengue viruses, is infected by one of the others, and may precipitate the immunopathogenetic cascade of events leading to DHF. Another main risk factor in precipitating this process is the strain of virus causing the infection.

DHF, a vascular leak syndrome, can lead to dengue shock syndrome, which can quickly progress to death if not detected and treated appropriately. A safe and effective dengue vaccine, therefore, must provide protection against all four dengue viruses; this presents a major challenge to the development of a dengue vaccine.

With the establishment of the PDVI, a Board of Counselors was formed to provide oversight and guidance. The current membership of the Board is shown on the next page and it is a particular point of pride for me to chair this outstanding group of individuals.

The Board has met regularly since its founding in June of 2002, with the most recent meeting in Seoul, Korea on 25-26 April, 2006. The Board recently reviewed and approved a Strategic Plan prepared by the PDVI Director, Dr. Harold Margolis, and a team of advisers. We believe this Strategic Plan lays out a sound and feasible strategy that can lead to the availability of one or more dengue vaccines in the foreseeable future. This is the first time that a comprehensive plan has been developed for dengue vaccine and it should help to guide the field for many years to come. You may download the plan from www.pdvi.org/strategicplan.pdf; it is a dynamic document that will be modified and updated to reflect changing circumstances. We would welcome your comments and suggestions on the Plan.

I hope you will take the time to read through the remainder of this newsletter. It will bring you up-to-date on a number of the initiatives of the PDVI. I think you will agree with me that we are launching on an exciting and challenging pathway that hopefully will lead to the control of dengue fever/DHF, one of the most important emerging infectious diseases of children in tropical developing countries as we enter the new millennium.