50m doses of H1N1 vaccine for developing countries
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will donate 50 million doses of its adjuvanted pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for distribution to developing countries.
To this end, GSK and WHO had signed a deal, it was announced yesterday.
GSK is working with WHO and health authorities to prepare for initial shipments of the vaccine by the end of November, says a press release.
"GSK is committed to supporting governments and health authorities around the world in their efforts to protect their populations against this pandemic. Our commitment recognises the needs of developing countries, and this donation of 50 million doses will enable vaccination to begin soon in some of the world's poorest countries," said Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.
In addition to the donation made to the WHO, to ensure that developing countries have access to pandemic vaccines, GSK is also supplying its vaccine to developing countries under a tiered pricing policy, based on World Bank Classification and GAVI eligibility.
GAVI-eligible countries, which include the world's poorest, would receive highly preferential prices, based on volume orders. GSK has allocated 20% of overall production of its Canadian manufacturing site to developing countries. The donation to the WHO is part of this allocation.
"We welcome this very generous donation by GlaxoSmithKline, which will go to protect the health of the world's poorest people. This is a real gesture of global solidarity towards those who would not be otherwise able to have access to the vaccine," said Dr Margaret Chan, director general of WHO.
"WHO will now work to see that these vaccines are distributed to those who need them," added Dr Chan.
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