GSK and Pfizer to Provide Vaccines to Third World Countries Through the GAVI Alliance

Millions of infants and young children in the world’s poorest countries will receive potentially life-saving vaccines that help protect against pneumococcal disease, including pneumonia—the world’s biggest childhood killer, through agreements made through the GAVI Alliance with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, London, UK) and Pfizer Inc. (New York, NY).

GSK and Pfizer are the first two companies to make long-term commitments to supply new vaccines against pneumococcal disease. Supply may start as early as 2010, and at a fraction of the price charged in industrialized countries.

GSK will supply up to 300 million doses of its vaccine, Synflorix, for invasive pneumococcal disease, to GAVI over a 10-year period. Pfizer will provide Prevnar 13*, its 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for infants and young children.

The two participating companies have committed to supply 30 million doses each per year, for a 10-year period. These vaccines will be made available at $3.50 per dose to be paid by the GAVI Alliance and the developing country governments that introduce the vaccines.For approximately 20% of the doses, companies also will receive an additional payment of $3.50 for each dose they provide, which is paid with donor commitments (AMC funds). In total, this is a fraction of the current cost of pneumococcal vaccines in many industrialized countries.

The supply agreements were made possible through the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for pneumococcal disease, an innovative financing mechanism piloted by the GAVI Alliance. The governments of Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Norway, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed $1.5 billion to launch the program.

The aim of the AMC is to stimulate the late-stage development and manufacture of appropriate vaccines at affordable prices. Through the AMC, donors commit money to guarantee the price of vaccines after they have been developed. These commitments help provide vaccine makers with the incentive to invest the considerable sums required to finalize development of vaccines and build adequate manufacturing capacity to serve developing countries.

Firms still can make offers under the AMC as new calls for supply offers will be issued over time. In addition to GSK and Pfizer, Panacea Biotec, Ltd. and the Serum Institute of India, Ltd. are among the firms that have already registered to the program, and other companies have expressed interest in the pilot. As more companies participate in the AMC, the long-term vaccine price could drop further.