The best of times, the worst of times for new drug launches. The Impact Of Globalization On Vaccine Development And Availability. GSK's genital herpes vaccine gets disappointing results. China wants vaccine production innovation to boost local sector. The Chinese government is encouraging development of new vaccine production processes in a bid to achieve self-reliance.
Under its Vaccine Supply System Development Plan, the current version of which runs to 2015, China is encouraging development of production processes with proprietary intellectual property rights. By offering support China hopes to equip domestic producers to meet the nation’s vaccine needs. “It is clear from the plan that the Chinese government intends to create a favourable environment for the growth and development of China’s domestic vaccine industry and to achieve self-reliance in the supply of vaccines”, law firm Sidley Austin LLP said . Strengthening production capabilities will move the government closer to its goal of making China the primary producer of vaccines it regularly uses and those for urgent needs.
As well as encouraging development of production processes, China is supporting creation of new strains and technologies. Incepta unleashes first vaccine plant. Vaccine Market Access in China - M&A Paves the Way for Foreign Companies. Asia-Pacific seasonal flu vaccine market "to grow 8.9% a year" The market for seasonal flu vaccines in the Asia-Pacific region will grow 8.9% each year on average to 2017, to reach a value of $2.09 billion by then compared to $1.15 billion in 2010, says a new report.
The regional market is being driven by increases in awareness, vaccination coverage and government support for immunisation against seasonal influenza, although working against these drivers are entry barriers for new entrants to the market including limited production capacity, high investment and stringent regulations, according to the report, which is produced by Companies and Markets. China Approves Hepatitis E Vaccine. China has approved a hepatitis E vaccine, claimed to be the world's first, said the Ministry of Science and Technology Wednesday.
The vaccine received the certificate for medicine production in December 2011, according to the State Food and Drug Administration. A team of researchers from Xiamen University and Xiamen Innovax Biotech Co. Ltd. in southeast China's Fujian province had worked for 14 years to develop the vaccine, and the 863 program, the government-funded high-tech development initiative, began to sponsor the research in 2005, said the ministry statement. The country will apply the vaccine to high-risk members of the population and work with international organizations to introduce it to other countries, the statement said. The hepatitis E virus is shed in feces and spread via tainted water and food. In China, incidences of hepatitis E have increased notably and become the most common among all types of hepatitis infecting adults.
Bill And Melinda Gates Pledge $10 Billion For Vaccines. Cost of child vaccines fall, more kids saved. HANOI, Vietnam — Babies squirmed and wailed as needles plunged into their chubby thighs at a public health clinic on the outskirts of Hanoi on Friday.
Like little ones everywhere, the reaction to the sting was never pretty. Starting next year an extra 6.3 million children worldwide will have the chance to feel that pinch and get vaccinated against some of the world's deadliest illnesses, according to the GAVI Alliance, a global vaccine partnership that helped organize the Hanoi event. The funding will come from a drop in the price of the one-shot vaccine that safeguards against five infectious diseases to below $3 a dose, nearly 50 cents cheaper than this year, the alliance said. It has been able to negotiate cheaper vaccine prices through competition created by rising demand for the shots. As a result of not receiving routine vaccinations, about 2 million children die annually. WHO backs anti-diarrhoea vaccine. The World Health Organization says a vaccine which can prevent a diarrhoea and vomiting virus should be given to all children as a routine vaccination.
Rotavirus causes more than 500,000 diarrhoeal deaths and two million hospitalisations a year among children. Over 85% of deaths occur in developing countries in Africa and Asia. HEALTH: Strategy to Cut Vaccine Price Paying Off. WASHINGTON, Nov 18, 2009 (IPS) - The price of a major combination vaccine called the 'pentavalent' has fallen considerably over the past year, bringing the cost per dose below three dollars - a decrease of almost 50 cents, according to data released Wednesday by an alliance of public and private partners who have worked to bring down vaccine prices in the developing world. Pentavalent is a childhood vaccine that protects against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and hepatitis B.
Deal to Cut Cost of Vaccines for Poor Nations. Acino to buy Mepha businesses in Latin America, Asia; Ranbaxy's $500M reserve wipes out Lipitor gains; Ethiopia - In Ethiopia, bringing child pneumonia deaths down to zero. By Indrias Getachew OROMIA REGION, Ethiopia, 27 December 2011 – One-year-old Kedir Mudi and his mother, Alemnesh Gerefa, play in the waiting area of the health post in Derer Ebija, a rural village in Oromia Region.
Only three months ago, this happy toddler came dangerously close to death after contracting pneumonia, one of the leading killers of children in Ethiopia. Kedir was diagnosed during a visit to the Derer Ebija health post, where the health extension workers had been trained, with UNICEF support, to detect pneumonia. “I thought he would die on me,” said Ms. Gerefa. India Beats Polio. Global Eradication Within Reach. This is a special guest post from Timothy E.
Wirth, President, United Nations Foundation. A version of this is cross posted at the Huffington Post . This week the world celebrates a major milestone in the global fight against polio. On January 13, India will mark one year in which no child was paralyzed by polio – for the first time in history. Two years ago India had more polio cases than any other country. India’s achievement demonstrates that we can put a stop to polio and that we must remain focused on that goal. Talk » GSK in Spotlight for Alleged Unethical Trials. GlaxoSmithKline has faced intense media scrutiny this week after being fined approximately 72 650 Euros by a court in Argentina for allegedly conducting unethical clinical trials on children for the company’s pneumococcal vaccine, Synflorix.
I always seem to be writing about GSK in my blogs but this is a much more sombre subject compared with the recent news of GSK CEO Andrew Witty’s knighthood. This week’s attention on GSK is focused on the COMPAS (Clinical Otitis Media and PneumoniA Study) study, which involved almost 24 000 children and was completed in Argentina in June 2011. Pfizer, GSK Commit to Supplying Developing World with Vaccines.