PHM-Exch> Oxfam/MSF report on vaccines

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Gopal Dabade drdabade at gmail.com

Report: Giving Developing Countries the Best Shot

GLOBAL VACCINE DRIVE FACING ACUTE CRISIS
- NEW OXFAM / MSF REPORT EXAMINES WHY?

Geneva/Washington, 11 May 2010

In a new report published today, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and Oxfam
International warn that the global approach to ensure access to
life-saving vaccines
for children in the poorest countries is hampered by high prices and is now
facing an acute funding crisis.

'The report, entitled Giving Developing Countries the Best Shot, shows how
because of the fundamental nature of the vaccine market, it still takes
years for expensive new vaccines developed for wealthy countries to reach
children across the developing world, and that products emerging from the
research pipeline are often insufficiently adapted to developing country needs
and conditions', said Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Director of the MSF Campaign
for Access to Essential Medicines.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), which leads
international efforts to boost immunisation rates in developing countries,
has reported considerable success in expanding access to vaccines against
Hib and Hepatitis B, two diseases that cause considerable mortality.  But
the organisation is now facing an acute cash crisis due to high prices for
new vaccines and stagnating donor resources.  Without an additional US$2.4
billion in donor contributions, GAVI will have to make significant cut-backs
that will reduce access to vaccines in poor countries.

GAVI's attempts to speed up the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate
vaccines (PCV) are an illustration of the hurdles faced by the
organisation.  Used for a number of years in wealthy countries, PCV have
prevented hundreds of thousands of cases of pneumonia, meningitis and other
serious infections.  They have also generated billions of dollars in revenue
for multinational drug companies.  But the joint efforts of GAVI and donor
countries to improve uptake of these blockbuster products in resource-poor
settings have stumbled.

Despite repeated announcements heralding the impending roll-out of PCV
across developing countries, PCV will remain out of reach for most children
due to problems with supply and a lack of funds.  Kenya is the only
GAVI-eligible country that will receive the newer version of this
life-saving vaccine in 2010 and the cost will be US$21 per child. This is an
unacceptably high price for donors and developing countries to bear.

'The newest vaccines continue to be produced by only a handful of
multinational pharmaceutical companies whose oligopoly status allows them to
charge high prices,' said Rohit Malpani, senior policy advisor at Oxfam.
'Despite GAVI's negotiating power, the price of new vaccines is too high.
The Best Shot report highlights novel ways of developing affordable vaccines
to improve children's access to them, increasing their chances of survival.'

One of these novel ways is illustrated by the collaboration between the World
Health Organization, the U.S. non-profit PATH and the Serum Institute of
India, which has resulted in a meningitis vaccine that will cost no more
than $0.50 per dose.  This vaccine, which is tailored to the needs of
countries in the so-called 'Meningitis Belt' in sub-Saharan Africa, should
be available by the end of the year.

MSF and Oxfam are calling for changing the current system so that donor
funds incentivise the development of adapted vaccines and ensure affordable
prices.

In addition to these reforms, routine immunisation needs to be
strengthened.  In developing countries, two million children die every year
because of the failure to vaccinate with existing vaccines.

'Again during the past two years MSF has responded to major outbreaks of
measles and meningitis,' said Dr. Tido von Schoen-Angerer. 'This is because
an increasing number of children are missing their measles vaccination and
because there is not yet a long-duration meningitis vaccine accessible. The
overall goal needs to be to increase rates of routine immunisation and to
ensure access to newer vaccines.'

In 2009, MSF treated over 50,000 cases and vaccinated more than 7.4 million
people against meningitis. In 2008, the organisation treated more than
32,000 measles cases and vaccinated more than 1.9 million children in
response to measles outbreaks.

For more information, please contact:
Guillaume Bonnet, MSF Access Campaign +41 79 203 13 02
Rohit Malpani, Oxfam International +1 202 415 5533

The new report 'Giving developing countries the best shot: An overview of
vaccine access and R&D' is available at www.msfaccess.org or at
www.oxfam.org/en/policy/giving-developing-countries-best-shot


www.msfaccess.org
michelle.vilk at geneva.msf.org


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