The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has approved Sanofi Pasteur’s, standalone Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine (IPV) against acute flaccid poliomyelitis (Imovax Polio). Imovax Polio will be added to the country's public immunization program on September 1.

Since 1988, start of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners, the number of polio cases has been reduced by 99% worldwide.  The approval of Imovax Polio by Japanese health authorities is another step towards a polio-free world. Imovax Polio is an inactivated poliovirus vaccine made from poliovirus types 1, 2 and 3. Since its launch in France in 1982, Imovax Polio has been approved in 86 countries. Sanofi Pasteur has supplied more than 800 million doses of standalone IPV and IPV-containing combination vaccines worldwide to date.

"Inactivated poliovirus vaccine is the standard of care for polio vaccination in polio-free countries. Sanofi Pasteur is committed to doing its utmost to contribute to protecting as many infants as possible in Japan from polio," said Olivier Charmeil, president and CEO of Sanofi Pasteur.

In the past, Japan had immunized its population with Oral Poliovirus Vaccine (OPV), starting in 1961.