Rich nations launch vaccine pact, appeal to others
Source: Reuters
By Gavin Jones ROME, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Five rich countries led by Italy launched a $1.5 billion project on Friday to help develop vaccines they said could save millions of lives in poor nations, and called on others to join them. Italy, Britain, Canada, Norway and Russia announced their funding commitments at a ceremony in Rome which was also attended by Jordan's Queen Rania and World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz. "We call on other countries to join us to put finance fully at the service of innovative medicine," said British Finance Minister Gordon Brown. The Advanced Market Commitment for Vaccines project involves donor nations making a prior commitment to buy vaccines which are under development once they are launched, thereby creating a demand-led market for new vaccines needed by poor countries. Currently there is little financial incentive for drug companies to develop vaccines for poor countries that cannot afford them. The first target diseases will be pneumococcal diseases pneumonia and meningitis, which kill 1.6 million people per year in poor countries, more than half of whom are children under five. Julian Lob-Levyt, executive secretary of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations, said new pneumococcal vaccines would reach developing countries by 2010 thanks to the project, at least 10 years earlier than they would have done otherwise. "On average vaccines take 15-20 years to get to the poor, AMC breaks that vicious circle," said Wolfowitz. The pilot project aims to provide pneumococcus vaccines for 70 to 100 million people and can save up to 5.4 million lives by 2030, a statement said. Brown said the "dream" is that, in time, AMCs will also be used to fight other diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Pope Benedict has also given his support to the project, and officials illustrated it to him at a meeting at the Vatican on Friday. Italy is the lead contributor to the pilot scheme, committing $635 million dollars between 2010 and 2020. Britain has committed $485 million, Canada $200 million, Russia $80 million and Norway $50 million. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has guaranteed a further $50 million.
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