IN WHAT appears to be an outpouring of benevolence, pharmaceutical companies have been falling over themselves to offer cheap vaccines to protect the world鈥檚 poorest children from preventable diseases. But it鈥檚 not just goodwill: in the competition for contracts to supply UNICEF with childhood vaccines over the next five years, the emergence of new vaccine manufacturers has driven down prices.
Andrew Witty, chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline , offering to cut the price of a vaccine against a diarrhoea-causing rotavirus by 95 per cent, to $2.50 per dose.
Merck, meanwhile, is also offering a cut price on the same vaccine and a two-thirds reduction in the price of its vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.
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The (GAVI) says it is 鈥渆ncouraged by鈥� the price cuts. It adds that the main impetus for such drastic price reductions was the for a new round of vaccine supplies, with the deadline for tenders closing on 30 May.
Competition from newly developed countries has played a part, with companies such as the Serum Institute of India offering an all-in-one vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and a type of influenza for just $1.75. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pushing the big guys to lower prices,鈥� says a spokesperson for GAVI. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e hoping more emergent manufacturers will enter the market.鈥�
