Archive : Winter 2006
Infographic //
Making Markets for Vaccines
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Nothing spurs innovation like the promise of profits, which motivates pharmaceutical companies to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to develop a single drug. As drugmakers devote their efforts to curing diseases of aging, for which there are lucrative markets in wealthy countries, the poorest countries are forgotten. Only 10% of global spending on drug development goes toward prevention and treatment for ailments that affect 90% of the world's population. Such brutal economics have hindered the search for vaccines against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, which each year kill approximately 5 million people.
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The World's Greatest Killers
Disability-adjusted life years (years lost to premature mortality and disability) tell the story: While communicable conditions take an awesome toll in the poorest countries, diseases of aging, including cancer and heart disease, are of greater concern in affluent countries.
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The Vaccine Divide
In terms of medicine R & D, the poorest countries are largely ignored.
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The Beleaguered Bottom Line
For drug companies looking to develop vaccines for the poorest countries, the economics are bleak.
There are simply few profits to be had.
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Market Forces to the Rescue
In an approach called advance market commitments, rich countries would promise to pay for vaccine dosages on behalf of the poorest countries — providing to drug companies the incentive to devote R & D to poor-country diseases. G7 finance ministers have agreed to a pilot program based on a proposal by the Center for Global Development, a Washington, D.C., think tank that seeks commitments of approximately $3 billion each for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
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Infographic by Grundy & Northedge
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