E-DRUG: New Commentary - COVID-19 vaccines pricing policy options for LMICs
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Dear e-drug members,
We would like to share with you this newly published commentary in BMJ
Global Health on COVID-19 vaccines pricing policy options for low-income
and middle-income countries:
https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/3/e005347
The urgent need for COVID-19 vaccines coupled with the fast development
pace means governments are acutely challenged to make evidence-based
decisions to ensure affordable prices, efficacy, and population-wide
coverage.
Low-income and middle-income countries face unique pricing
challenges posed by these innovative medical products and the lack of
adequate feasible pricing policies to ensure affordable and equitable
access to the urgently needed vaccines.
The COVID-19 pandemic, by illustrating the importance of affordable medical
products, provides an opportunity for countries to revisit pricing
structures and policies for novel single-source medical products.
Please find the link to the commentary here:
https://gh.bmj.com/content/6/3/e005347
Summary box
Commonly used policies such as fostering competition, generic substitution, and external and internal reference pricing will not work for novel vaccines.
The rapid pace of vaccine development and the lack of historic safety, efficacy and pricing data make it difficult for governments to make informed procurement decisions to ensure equitable and affordable access.
Transparent priority setting mechanisms for reviewing the evidence, measuring costs and benefits will be critical for evidence-based comparisons between vaccines, and between vaccines and other COVID-19 interventions.
Low-income and middle-income countries and the donor community can leverage joint procurement mechanisms and voluntary or compulsory licensing agreements as policy options for equitable and affordable access.
One potential target for advocacy is the deduction of government research and development subsidies for COVID-19 vaccine development.
Low-income and middle-income countries lack adequate feasible pricing policies to ensure affordable and equitable access to the urgently needed vaccines being developed.
Ends
Best regards,
Timothé Chevaux
Strategic Communications Consultant
Management Sciences for Health
E-mail: tchevaux-consultant@msh.org