Lugar Introduces Bill to Accelerate Vaccine Development
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republican leader Dick Lugar today introduced the "Vaccines for the Future Act of 2007," a bill to accelerate the development of vaccines for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases that disproportionately affect populations in developing countries. Lugar's bill would require the Administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to speed the development, testing and distribution of life-saving vaccines through innovative financial incentives and would authorize funding for a pneumonia vaccine pilot program. Experts are hopeful that this initiative could accelerate by a decade the widespread use of a pneumococcal vaccine specific to the developing world and could prevent the deaths of an estimated 5.4 million children by 2030.
(Media-Newswire.com) - U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Republican leader Dick Lugar today introduced the "Vaccines for the Future Act of 2007," a bill to accelerate the development of vaccines for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases that disproportionately affect populations in developing countries. Lugar's bill would require the Administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to speed the development, testing and distribution of life-saving vaccines through innovative financial incentives and would authorize funding for a pneumonia vaccine pilot program.
"Vaccines for diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other, less well-known diseases would save millions of lives. Partnerships between governments, private foundations and businesses have made significant strides toward the development of vaccines, but much more needs to be done," said Lugar.
"One of the biggest challenges is that drug companies do not have a strong financial incentive to invest in the development of vaccines for these diseases because there is no reliable market for them. In other words, vaccine manufacturers are reluctant to commit the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to create a new vaccine with no obvious way to recoup their investment. What is needed is the promise of market demand to encourage industry to develop the vaccines for these diseases."
Lugar's bill would provide these market incentives for research and vaccine development by requiring the Administration to continue negotiations to establish an Advance Market Commitment ( AMC ), a concept approved by the Administration and the G-8 at the 2005 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. By committing to purchase large quantities of a successful vaccine beforehand, the AMC concept aims to bridge the gap between the vaccine makers' research costs and the future sales needed to cover the costs of their investment.
Additionally, Lugar's bill would authorize the appropriations to fund a pilot program for an AMC for pneumococcal disease, which causes both pneumonia and meningitis and claims the lives of an estimated 1 million children a year. This funding would join a $1.5 billion pledge announced on February 9, 2007, in Rome, by Britian, Italy, Norway, Russia, and Canada along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund an AMC to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop a vaccine for pneumococcal disease.
Experts are hopeful that this initiative could accelerate by a decade the widespread use of a pneumococcal vaccine specific to the developing world and could prevent the deaths of an estimated 5.4 million children by 2030.
For his efforts to bring attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis, Lugar has been recognized by Africare, YouthAIDS and the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa. Under Lugar's chairmanship, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee examined many subjects related to HIV/AIDS, including the intersection of AIDS and hunger, the AIDS orphan crisis, the impact of the disease on women and girls in the developing world, and the implementation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief ( PEPFAR ).
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