GSK and MSD (Merck in the US) will reduce the price of their HPV vaccines, which protect against cervical cancer, in the world’s poorest countries.

The two pharma giants have allied to help improve access to HPV prevention in parts of the world where about 275,000 women die from cervical cancer each year.

The low price, about $4.50 per dose, will initially apply to a few million doses made available in Kenya, Ghana, Laos and Madagascar.

The alliance aims to have made the vaccines available to protect 30 million girls in 40 countries by 2020.

In the US, where the vaccine costs $130 per dose, the Center for Disease Control has described the uptake rate as “unacceptably low”. The reduced prices may result in uptake rate in the world’s poorest countries exceeding the US rate.

Dr Seth Berkeley, the alliance’s CEO, described the reduced price as a “ceiling” and predicted that it would drop further due to generic competition from companies in India and China.

The lowest current price for HPV vaccines is $13, paid by the Pan American Health Organization, which supplies medicines to Latin American countries.

The impact of the HPV vaccines could be increased by giving them to younger girls: only two doses are needed to immunise girls aged 9–13, but three are needed for teenage girls.

Both GSK’s Cervarix and MSD’s Gardasil protect against the strands of HPV (human papilloma virus) that cause cervical cancer, though Gardasil also protects against genital warts.

GSK has received £5m funding from the Wellcome Trust to support its collaborative work aimed at developing new drugs for diseases of the developing world.

The ‘open innovation’ research facility at Tres Cantos, Madrid, brings GSK’s drug discovery specialists together with 27 external researchers.

The funding will help to build on early-stage research to develop new medicines for tropical diseases including malaria, TB, Leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness.

The Open Lab facility, created by GSK in 2010, aims to develop two significant experimental drugs over the next five years, based on the most promising early-stage research both at Tres Cantos and at GSK.

GSK’s commitment to ‘open innovation’ was signalled by CEO Andrew Witty’s comment in 2012 that “the market has failed” to bring forward new drugs that are needed but will not generate immediate high revenues.

Dr Nick Cammack, Head of GSK’s Tres Cantos Medicines Development Campus, said: “This support highlights a growing recognition that collaborative and open research is the key to tackling these devastating diseases.

“Since adopting an open approach to discovering new medicines for developing world diseases, we’ve hosted some of the world's brightest academic scientists at Tres Cantos. The fusion of their academic excellence with GSK expertise has yielded some really exciting research projects.

“This tremendous show of support from the Wellcome Trust means we now have the potential to start driving these projects further towards finding new medicines.”

The Wellcome Trust is an independent global charitable foundation that supports research to improve human and animal health.

Dr Richard Seabrook, the Trust’s Head of Business Development, commented: “Academic researchers are making incredible progress in our understanding of neglected diseases, yet we’ve still got a bottleneck when it comes to the development of new drugs.

“Taking a more collaborative approach, as GSK have through their open lab, will see these advances reap the full benefit of the industry’s commercial expertise to give us the best chance of securing new treatments for these devastating diseases.”

Novo Nordisk (NN) has celebrated 90 years of manufacturing and selling insulin for the treatment of diabetes.

The Danish company was the first to develop human insulin and the insulin pen for fixed dose injection.

It now produces half of the world’s insulin – a drug vital to all people with type 1 diabetes and many with type 2.

NN was founded by medical researchers August and Marie Krogh. August was a Nobel Prize winning zoologist and Marie was a doctor and diabetes patient.

In 1922, the couple went to Canada to meet Professor Macleod, the leader of the team who had discovered insulin. They gained permission to commercialise the drug in Scandinavia, and launched the company in early 1923.

Treatment innovations developed by NN include ‘modern’ insulins (genetically engineered insulin analogues with enhanced properties) and GLP-1, a type 2 diabetes drug than enhances the production and absorption of the body’s insulin.

In 2002, NN started the World Diabetes Foundation, an international funding agency supporting diabetes prevention and treatment in the developing world.

The company also manufactures biopharmaceuticals to treat haemophilia and growth disorders, and established the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation in 2005 to support patient care and treatment.

“Our 90 year anniversary is a significant milestone for Novo Nordisk. Our commitment to changing the lives of people with diabetes is unparalleled both globally and here in the UK, where we have been operating for over 25 years,” said Peter Meeus, NN’s UK Managing Director.

“Our researchers have discovered many breakthroughs in diabetes treatments for patients and our dedication to the training and support of NHS doctors and nurses has helped thousands to share expertise between primary and specialist care.”

Based in West Sussex, Novo Nordisk UK employs about 400 people.

Johnson & Johnson has said it will not enforce patents on its HIV drug Prezista (darunavir) in Africa and other poor regions of the world.

The decision will ensure that many patients have access to cheaper generic versions of the drug.

However, J&J insists that generic darunavir must be of high quality, and reserves the right to enforce its patents if this is not the case.

The company has declined to join the new Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to accelerate generic drug production.

J&J came second in the Access to Medicine Index 2012, which scores major pharmaceutical companies on the access to their drugs in poorer countries – seven places higher than its 2010 placing.

Multiple generic manufacturers will now be able to produce generic darunavir for sale in sub-Saharan Africa and other ‘least developed countries’.

The drug is a second-line therapy for patients who have developed resistance to the standard antiretroviral drugs. Demand for it in Africa is increasing rapidly.

Paul Stoffels, J&J’s Head of Pharmaceuticals, said that competition between generic manufacturers would drive down the price of darunavir.

Indian pharmaceutical companies would be particularly quick to bring out generic versions of the drug, he predicted.

Stoffels defended the decision to stay out of the Medicines Patent Pool: “We want to reserve the right to reinforce patents if people are not providing the right quality of product, for example by bringing products to market that under-dose.”

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck have agreed a deal to make their rotavirus vaccines available in the developing world for five years at a third of their standard price.

International vaccines group GAVI will make 132 million doses of GSK’s Rotarix and Merck’s Rotateq available to poorer countries at $5 per course.

The vaccines will help to combat the main cause of diarrhoea, a major killer of young children worldwide.

GAVI (the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) plans to distribute the vaccines in more than 40 economically deprived countries by 2016.

The new deal with GSK and Merck will enable GAVI to drop the price of its two-dose rotavirus vaccine courses from $15 to $5.

The WHO recommended in 2009 that all countries should target rotavirus – which kills half a million children every year – with national immunisation programmes.

A spokesman for GSK, which will supply 95% of the doses contracted by GAVI, said: “Rotavirus vaccine has demonstrated real-world, life-saving impact on reducing deaths. We have a chance here to collaborate in programs designed to protect millions of children.”

Based in Geneva, GAVI is a public-private partnership whose backers include the WHO, the World Bank, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a number of governments.

“Our market-shaping goal is to maintain supply security and strive to achieve the lowest price for currently available products,” commented Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of GAVI. “We have already taken an encouraging step forward towards this goal. GAVI Alliance members will continuously pursue these efforts to broaden competition and ensure the provision of quality vaccines at sustainable prices.”

GAVI’s procurement strategy offsets the cost to suppliers of heavy discounts by prepaying a portion of the fee and extending the deal period.

Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have both agreed to increase and extend their supply of discounted pneumonia vaccine to developing countries.

Pfizer will supply an additional 180 million doses per year of its vaccine Prevnar 13 at the discounted price of $3.50 per dose, and GSK will match that with its vaccine Synflorix.

The companies’ new agreements build on an existing 10-year plan to supply the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), an international partnership funded by several developed nations with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Based in Geneva, GAVI aims to make immunisation programmes available throughout the developing world.

In March 2010, Pfizer and GSK agreed independently to supply GAVI with 300 million doses of pneumonia vaccine over a decade. Under the new agreement, both companies will supply an additional 180 million vaccines each year to 2023.

Pneumonia and related diseases account for one in every four child deaths in developing countries. According to GAVI, affordable vaccines could save up to 7 million lives by 2030.

“Pfizer is proud to broaden and extend access to our vaccine to advance public health,” said Mark Swindell, President of Pfizer’s vaccine division.

The vaccines market in poorer countries is currently a major area of investment for pharmaceutical companies, as nations with limited health budgets are focusing on the prevention of lethal diseases.

US biomedical scientist Dr Robert Langer (pictured), whose work led to the use of artificial skin to repair burns, has been named the winner by The Economist in the bioscience category of its tenth annual Innovation Awards.

The award, sponsored by Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd, recognises Dr Langer’s exceptional contribution to tissue engineering and drug delivery.

A pioneer of biomedical engineering, Dr Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he leads the world’s largest biomedical engineering laboratory.

The polymer-based artificial tissues developed by Dr Langer are now used as a basis for replacement skin, as well as the controlled administration of drugs and hormones.

“Robert Langer is one of the most innovative and influential biomedical engineers of our time,” said Tom Standage, Digital Editor at The Economist and chairman of the judging panel.

“His proven successes in drug-delivery and tissue engineering have made possible new forms of medication and treatment. He is a worthy recipient of our bioscience award.”

Ken Jones, CEO of Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd, commented: “Robert Langer has made an extraordinary contribution to the field of biomedical engineering and has been responsible for true breakthroughs in the global quest to discover better ways to manage diseases.”

To mark the tenth year of its Innovation Awards, The Economist is inviting all past winners to attend awards ceremony on 21 October. Those attending include Hermes Chan, developer of rapid HIV diagnostic testing, and Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, developer of low-cost medical devices for the developing world.

Members of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) have pledged to reduce the price of vaccines in developing countries.

Serum Institute of India and Panacea Biotec have both agreed to drop the price of their pentavalent vaccine (pictured), whilst GSK and Merck also promised similar deals.

Andrew Witty, GAVI Chief Executive, called on pharma companies to be “in step with society” and base goals and business models around issues that address global health needs.

The offers are in response to a tender by the United Nations Children’s Fund, which uses the majority of the vaccines funded by GAVI.

The GSK deal will see its vaccine against diarrhoeal disease in the poorest countries sold for £1.50 a dose, a twentieth of its £30 price in western and developed countries. Merck will also offer its rotavirus vaccine at discounted prices.

“I hope this will enable millions of children to receive this vaccine,” Andrew Witty wrote in the Times.

“Importantly, this offer is sustainable, because we are recouping the cost of goods and manufacture.”

GAVI donors are set to meet in London later this month, where Prime Minister David Cameron will promote a way to raise a further £2.25 billion in global aid.

UNICEF has revealed a decision to publish the prices it pays to vaccine manufacturers in an attempt to lower the cost of vaccines needed in the developing world.

UNICEF spent US$757 million on vaccines in 2010, but has never before revealed the prices charged by each producer.

Many companies have given the green light for their prices from the last 10 years to be openly published as part of a voluntary price reporting system. From now on, all company prices will be routinely published.

“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 Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Full price transparency facilitates competition and will allow buyers to make the best choices for immunisation programmes.”

MSF has also urged The GAVI Alliance (The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) 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,” Mr Berman added.