[Ip-health] USD 1.5b package aims to boost supply of new vaccine

[Adrienne.MacDONALD@geneva.msf.org]

USD 1.5b package aims to boost supply of new vaccine=0D
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Development Today DT 4/2008 April 7, 2008=0D
Please visit the Development Today website for the full article.=0D
www.development-today.com=0D
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.......The Advance Market Commitment (AMC) is a USD 1.5 billion carrot to=
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industry. The whole experiment rides on setting the =E2=80=9Cright" price. =
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high, and AMC could end up as a giant subsidy to drug firms. Too low and=0D
companies might not take the bait.=0D
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Though the concept of AMC has been around for over a decade, such an aid=0D
financing model has never been tried before. In its current form, it=0D
originates from a 2005 proposal by Harvard economist Michael Kremer and=0D
Ruth Levine of the Center for Global Development in Washington DC. This=0D
pilot AMC project aims to make pneumococcal vaccine available to the poor.=
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The win-win scenario, proponents say, is that donors pay nothing until a=0D
vaccine that meets World Health Organisation specs is in place, while=0D
industry is guaranteed a market that would otherwise be too risky to invest=
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in.=0D
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If it works, the public health benefits could be enormous. Pneumonia and=0D
meningitis kill almost 800,000 children under age five each year, according=
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to the WHO. Without AMC, there would be a time lag of some 15 years between=
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release of a vaccine in rich countries and release in poor countries. With=
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AMC in place, pneumococcal vaccine could be available in the poorest=0D
countries as early as 2010............=0D
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...........At a key meeting next month, the donors will decide on the price=
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per dose that will be the cornerstone of this AMC deal.=0D
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If the price is too high, the long-term demand from poor country=0D
governments might not materialise, which in turn would make it less=0D
interesting for industry to invest in additional manufacturing capacity. If=
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the price is too low, industry might not take the bait at all.=0D
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=E2=80=9CFor me the main question is =E2=80=98how big does the carrot have =
to get=E2=80=99?" says=0D
Tido von Schoen-Angerer, Director of the Campaign for Access to Essential=
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Medicines at M=C3=A9decins Sans Fronti=C3=A8res. He welcomes the AMC initia=
tive, and=0D
supports the choice of pneumococcal disease for this pilot, but points to=
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major uncertainties in finding a price that will work. He notes that all=0D
financial modelling is limited by the fact that the real costs borne by=0D
industry of research and increased production capacity remain=0D
unknown...................=0D
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Please visit the Development Today website for the full article.=0D
www.development-today.com=0D
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Adrienne MacDonald=0D
Communications Officer=0D
M=C3=A9decins Sans Fronti=C3=A8res=0D
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines=0D
Rue de Lausanne 78=0D
1211 Geneva, Switzerland=0D
+ 41.22.849.8909=0D
+ 41.79.293.0270 (m.)=0D
www.accessmed-msf.org=0D
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