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Geneva, 12 October 2009 - The AMC Secretariat is pleased to announce that four suppliers have made offers to supply vaccines under the Pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment.
The positive news was welcomed by the AMC donor group which consists of the governments of Italy, the UK, Canada, Norway, the Russian Federation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Appropriate and affordable
Collectively, the group committed USD 1.5 billion to speed up the introduction of life-saving pneumococcal vaccines that are appropriate and affordable for low-income countries.
"The AMC concept was developed to create a healthy vaccine market," said GAVI Alliance CEO Julian Lob-Levyt.
"The news of these offers is very exciting because industry's participation demonstrates initial proof of the AMC concept."
Opportunity
The pneumococcal AMC offers an unprecedented opportunity for low-income countries to protect their children from pneumococcal disease, the number one vaccine-preventable killer in children under five. It is estimated that introduction of the vaccine through the GAVI Alliance will save approximately seven million lives by 2030.
In the next two months, UNICEF's Supply Division will carefully evaluate the offers. Candidate vaccines will be assessed by an independent assessment committee and must meet the Pneumococcal AMC Target Product Profile (TPP). Supply agreements with manufacturers are expected to be signed by early 2010.