E-Drug: MSF statement: UNICEF Makes Vaccine Prices Public
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UNICEF Makes Vaccine Prices Public in Move Likely to have Major Impact on
Developing Country Market
Geneva, 27 May 2011 in a bid to increase transparency and stimulate
competition to bring down the prices of vaccines needed in the developing
world, UNICEF has decided to publish the prices it pays to vaccine
manufacturers.
This is a real step forward until now it was difficult for countries to
find out what companies were charging for specific vaccines, said Daniel
Berman, Deputy Director of the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). Full price transparency facilitates
competition and will allow buyers to make the best choices for
immunisation programmes.
UNICEF is one of the largest vaccine purchasers, spending US$750 million
on vaccines in 2010. Before January 2011, UNICEF only published average
weighted prices of vaccines, rather than list the specific prices charged
by each producer. This made it difficult for governments to know if they
were getting reasonable prices from vaccine producers.
A voluntary price reporting system was established earlier this year that
covered the annual prices paid by UNICEF over the last decade. Despite
initial reluctance, most companies have now given their green light for
UNICEF to publish retrospective prices. From now on, price reporting will
be systematic and company prices will be routinely published.
By getting access to these prices, buyers will be able to take advantage
of the increasing capacity of emerging countries to develop and produce
quality vaccines at significantly lower costs, Mr Berman said.
The GAVI Alliance, a major financier of vaccines for low income countries,
can also help to bring down prices. Medecins Sans Frontieres urges GAVI to
use their buying power to stimulate competition and to create incentives
for emerging country producers to speed up the development of low-cost,
adapted versions of vaccines.
Developing countries would benefit from vaccines that are easier to store
and transport, do not need refrigeration and that are easier to administer
orally or through patches, for example rather than with needles. GAVI
should flex its purchasing muscles to encourage manufacturers down this
path, said Mr Berman.
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Alexandra Lee
Webmaster/Online Content Editor
Medecins Sans Frontieres - Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
+41 22 849 89 88 (Direct Line)
msfaccess.org
twitter.com/MSF_access
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Take action today with MSF: https://action.msf.org