New supply agreements reached with manufacturers

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Copyright GAVI/2007/Atul Loke

Geneva, 29 July 2013 – The price the GAVI Alliance pays for lifesaving pneumococcal vaccines for children in the world’s poorest countries is set to be reduced under new agreements between GAVI, UNICEF, The World Bank, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.

Under previous agreements both manufacturers offered pneumococcal vaccine at US$ 3.50 per dose. From today, Pfizer will provide the vaccine at $3.40 per dose with a further reduction to $3.30 per dose from 2014 onwards. The new prices will apply to all doses to be purchased from Pfizer under current contracts, including those awarded under two previous agreements.

In addition, GSK will lower the price GAVI pays for its pneumococcal vaccine to $3.40 per dose for this new contract covering the period 2014-2024.

Sustainable in the long term

“More than 10 million children have been reached with GAVI-supported pneumococcal vaccines in 29 countries since 2010. We expect to reach children in more than 50 countries with this lifesaving vaccine by 2015,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance. ”We are working hard to make sure all our programmes are sustainable in the long term and one way of doing this is securing the best price we can for vaccines.”

Advance Market Commitment

GAVI purchases pneumococcal vaccines through UNICEF as part of an Advance Market Commitment which aims to accelerate the development of new products, bring forward supply availability and increase the introduction of appropriate and affordable vaccines to tackle pneumococcal disease.

In the past, it has taken up to two decades for vaccines available for children in industrialised countries to reach children in developing countries. Thanks to the innovative AMC, children in GAVI-supported countries have access to pneumococcal vaccines at about the same time as those in high-income countries.

The governments of Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Russian Federation and Norway, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have committed a total of $1.5 billion to the initiative, which was launched in 2009 and is being implemented by GAVI, The World Bank and UNICEF.

Third GAVI price announcement in 2013

Today’s price reduction is the third to be announced by GAVI this year. In April, a manufacturer agreed to provide pentavalent vaccine for $1.19 per dose. In May, a low price of $4.50 per dose was secured for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.

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