GAVI funds big pharma while Indian drug firm could produce for less

Donors recently committed USD 4.3 billion in new support to GAVI; one-third of this will finance the purchase of pneumococcal vaccine. Critics say that GAVI is paying too much for pneumo vaccine, while Bill Gates “feels great” about the prices GAVI has achieved.

In an interview with Development Today, the head of the Indian drug firm Serum Institute says he will have a pneumonia vaccine on the market by 2015 at a fraction of what GAVI is currently paying Western pharmaceutical companies. Had he received donor support three years ago, he would have been able to produce a cheaper vaccine by 2012-13.