First global AMC project for poor nations launched

Five nations along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today committed US$1.5 billion to launch the first Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to help speed the development and availability of a new vaccine to combat deadly disease in poor nations.

The US$1.5-billion pilot fund is expected to save the lives of 5.4 million children by 2030. An average three million children die of preventable diseases every year in the poorest regions of the world.

The joint venture of Canada, Italy, Norway, Russia, and the United Kingdom along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation represents the first step in an effort to create a market for life-saving vaccines for children in the world’s poorest countries.

The AMC pilot programme will target pneumococcal disease, a major cause of pneumonia and meningitis that kills 1.6 million people every year.

The AMC for pneumococcal disease will offer an improved market for vaccines now in development. Vaccines will be bought only if they meet pre-determined standards of efficacy and safety, health agencies specified.

The AMC pilot will test a new model to encourage development of vaccines, specifically those that prevent disease strains prevalent in developing countries.

In a pilot project run by the G-7 group of nations, Italy will be the biggest door with US$635 million aid, while U.K will be putting in US$485 million and Canada another US$200 million. Russia commits to contribute US$80 million and Norway US$50 million. Another US$50 million will come in from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The fund will be managed by the World Bank.

“The key aim is to accelerate the production of viable and urgently needed vaccines for the poorest countries where thousands of children die every day from diseases that can be prevented,” World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz stated.

“With the launch of the first AMC, we can save lives, and we will do it with the investment and expertise of industry,”he added.

Offered by a government or other financial entities, an advance market commitment (AMC) is a binding contract, typically used to guarantee a viable market if a vaccine or other medicine is successfully developed.

The immunization program announced today will be managed by the GAVI Alliance.

The GAVI Alliance (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization)is a public-private partnership focused on increasing children's access to vaccines in poor countries.

Partners include the GAVI Fund, national governments, UNICEF, WHO, The World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the vaccine industry, public health institutions and NGOs.