Vaccine makers make new concessions in immunization drive
This article was originally published in Scrip
As international donors pledge to refill the coffers of the Gavi global vaccine alliance with $7.5bn for the next five years, manufacturers have committed to price cuts and extended special terms for access to their products.
GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer, both targets of a call last week from health charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to lower the price of their pneumococcal vaccines, made fresh commitments.
Pfizer said it would reduce the price per dose from $3.30 to $3.10 for its new four-dose vial that is expected to be introduced in 2016. The price will be extended to all Gavi-eligible and Gavi-graduated countries until the end of 2025.
GSK has extended its price freeze commitment for countries that graduate from Gavi support because of increased economic wealth to enable them to continue buying its pneumococcal, rotavirus and cervical cancer vaccines for 10 years following graduation, up from five years previously. It also added that it would pass on any savings if it identifies manufacturing efficiencies that can reduce the cost of production.
MSF was unimpressed with Pfizer's price cut which it noted would leave the vaccination price at close to $10 per child, and reiterated its call for the two companies to cut their price to $5 for the full vaccination schedule (of three doses).
"Considering Pfizer has raked in nearly $16bn for this vaccine in just four years, we think the company can do much more than a meagre 6% discount," declared Kate Elder, vaccines policy advisor for MSF's Access Campaign. "Additionally, Pfizer and GSK are still being paid up to $21 per child (for all three doses) for some quantities through a special subsidy funded by Gavi donors." She called on the firms to make public their R&D and production costs so their claims that they are providing at or below cost price can be verified, and to facilitate "an educated discussion on reasonable vaccine prices".
The companies have told Scrip that the pneumococcal vaccines are complex and expensive vaccines to develop and manufacture, and that reducing the price further would compromise their ability to supply them in developing countries.
Other companies made the following commitments:
Biological E offered a five-year price commitment to Gavi graduated countries for its pentavalent vaccine
Janssen reaffirmed its pledge of making its pentavalent vaccine available at UNICEF prices to Gavi graduated countries over the next five years. It also announced the launch of its pentavalent vaccine in cPAD, a compact Prefilled Auto-Disable injection system which helps improve injection safety
Panacea Biotech extended its pledge, first made in June 2011, to support all Gavi graduated countries by offering a five-year price freeze on all vaccination programmes started with Gavi support. The price freeze commences from the first calendar year during which a country stops receiving Gavi support
Sanofi Pasteur committed to expand the production of yellow fever vaccine to address chronic shortages, and promised to offer Gavi-level pricing for Gavi graduated countries until the end of 2018. The company also announced the expansion of its EPIVAC vaccinator training programme in Nigeria, in collaboration with Agence de Médecine Préventive
Serum Institute of India reduced its price for pentavalent vaccines supplied to Gavi that is valued at approximately $50m over the next two years
Merck and NewLink Genetics committed to providing their investigational Ebola (rVSV-EBOV) vaccine to Gavi-eligible countries at the lowest possible access price.
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) said that Gavi's formation in 2000 and its purchasing power (covering about 60% of the annual global birth cohort) means it can provide a "stable, sustainable market when negotiating low prices for vaccines" that has "proved successful in increasing supply and reducing prices".
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