Situation of Chinese Medicine in China
Chinese Medicine is a cultural achievement. The tradition has an unusually long history and a strong philosophical basis. The traditional practice has served the people of China for thousands of years, not only within mainland China, but also in Chinese communities outside China. With increasing disillusionment about the effectiveness of modern Western medicine, which commands a reductionist approach based on a single target concept, alternative medicine based on past experience has enjoyed a corresponding increase in positive attention. This apparently unusual development happened because Western medicine - in spite of its successes - has yet to solve all the difficult problems in clinical practice.

World's First Tetravalent Dengue Vaccine in Clinical Trial
Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, announced in April this year the start of clinical studies of its investigational tetravalent dengue vaccine in Singapore and Vietnam. Sanofi pasteur is expanding its global dengue vaccine clinical study program in Asia where trials are already ongoing in Thailand and the Philippines. In Singapore, Sanofi Pasteur is collaborating with the Communicable Disease Centre to conduct a clinical study in 4 hospitals.

The aim is to collect useful information about the first tetravalent dengue vaccine candidate to reach the clinical phase and evaluate the incidence of disease among trial participants. Sanjeed finds out more from Dr Melanie Saville, Associate Vice President and Head, Clinical Dengue Programme in Sanofi Pasteur and Dr Ng Lee Ching, Head of Environmental Health Institute, National Environment Agency.