PHA-Exch> Vaccines deal to benefit poor countries

[Claudio Schuftan]

,From: Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au>
crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au
,
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/121e7922-00d7-11dd-a0c5-000077b07658.html

Vaccines deal to benefit poor countries
By Andrew Jack

,Six donors are close to approving a groundbreaking $1.5bn (€960m, £756m)
mechanism designed to boost the development and affordable supply of new
vaccines to the developing world.

The governments of Italy, the UK, Canada, Russia and Norway, as well as the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will by June agree their support for final
recommendations released on Thursday on a pilot Advance Market Commitment
(AMC) to supply vaccines against pneumococcal disease, which kills 1.6m
people a year.


The AMC provides a guaranteed market for pneumococcal vaccines, underwritten
by donors but with an agreement that recipient countries will assume an
increasing share of the purchase cost over its lifetime until 2020.

Italy has pledged $635m, the UK $485m, Canada $200m, Russia $80m, Norway
$50m and the Gates Foundation $50m. Ratification should lead to the launch
of the AMC by July this year, and its use to begin low-cost bulk purchases
of vaccines for many of the world's poorer countries next year.

The AMC marks a new step in efforts to stimulate pharmaceutical companies to
devise and distribute medicines and vaccines to boost health in countries
where the lack of any significant market means there are scant commercial
incentives.

If judged successful, existing and new donors including Spain, Ireland and
the US have already expressed interest in supporting up to two further
proposed AMCs: one for malaria vaccines and one for tuberculosis. Initial
estimates suggest a malaria AMC would require $2.3bn.

GlaxoSmithKline and Wyeth are among the companies most likely to benefit
from the first AMC. Each has developed pneumococcal vaccines sold in richer
countries but are investing in alternative versions more effective in Latin
America, Africa and Asia, where the strains are different.

The vaccine must initially be offered at a price of $5-$7 a dose, and
companies must pledge to continue supplying significant quantities, with a
maximum "tail price" in later years of about $2.

The latest version of the AMC includes provisions designed to ensure that
manufacturers do not simply provide surplus stock of vaccines already
manufactured but also commit themselves to investing in significant new
production capacity to supply future quantities.

It also allows for subsequent tenders by rival manufacturers developing
competing vaccines, designed to ensure that the first company does not
monopolise funding in a way that could exclude later, more effective and
cheaper alternatives.

Countries that agree to buy the first pneumococcal vaccine via the AMC will
be committed to continuing purchases over two to three years, delaying their
scope to switch to a subsequent vaccine they judge better.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
,
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20080404/0a68faaf/attachment-0001.html>