How the pharmaceutical industry can be encouraged to make medicines and vaccines for infectious diseases that sicken or kill billions of people in the world, but offer little in the way of economic benefits? Senior politicians strategies described last week at a meeting sponsored by the Institute for Global Health in San Francisco. Meanwhile, President Clinton has signaled its interest in launching an initiative to reduce the seemingly intractable gap in health between rich and poor countries, and last week a bill was introduced in the Senate US that would include a large number of suggestions for the meeting.
pharmaceutical companies already have the scientific knowledge and tools they need to develop drugs and vaccines for scourges like malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis. In addition, these drugs could save millions of lives and boost economic development in poor countries, said the group, which included representatives from the White House, the United States Congress, the World Health Organization, World Bank, World trade Organization, and pharmaceutical giants Glaxo Wellcome and Merck. Yet these diseases attract minimal attention from the pharmaceutical industry because executives do not see a market. Even when effective drugs are available - such as the cocktail of drugs against AIDS has reduced mortality in rich countries -. They may be too expensive for countries in Africa and Asia
The solution, the panel is in a set of incentives that would make it interesting for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to take action. one approach is for governments and multilateral organizations to further research and development by subsidizing part of the enormous costs, either directly or through tax breaks. Another is to provide companies a future market - for example, by establishing "purchase money" and agreeing to purchase certain quantities of a product once it is available. The group also praised the partnerships in which scientists funded work with the industry, such as the Global Alliance recently created for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), as a means accelerate the discovery and development of drugs.
The Global Forum for Health approach has already found a receptive ear in Washington. In his State of the Union, President Clinton announced a contribution of US $ 50 million to GAVI, and a tax credit of up to $ 1 billion for companies that invest in new vaccines against malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis. A delegation from the World Health Forum was scheduled to meet Clinton this week to present their findings and discuss the proposals of Clinton, who are "absolutely on track," said Richard Feachem, head of the Institute for Global Health .
Meanwhile, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) introduced an ambitious bill, called Vaccines for the new Millennium Law, 24 February. Kerry has proposed "change the death spiral" by childhood immunization "a major objective of the foreign policy of the United States." His bill provides for donations of $ 150 million for GAVI and $ 30 million to the International Initiative for a vaccine against AIDS. It also offers several tax credits for the industry and a purchase fund to buy and distribute vaccines as soon as they are approved. To cover the cost, Kerry asks Congress to set aside $ 100 million per year for the next 10 years. The political fate of these plans is uncertain. Although Feachem is encouraged by these and other initiatives in the European Union and Japan. Feachem said, "The global awareness of this challenge is running at a level we have not seen before."
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