Reuters exclusive on vaccines deal for world`s poor

Reuters reported exclusively on March 11 that drugmakers had agreed a landmark deal to supply up to 200 million doses a year of cut-price pneumococcal vaccines to developing nations. Leading manufacturers of such vaccines include GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. The agreement is the first under a new scheme called an Advance Market Commitment (AMC) and paves the way for others against diseases including malaria. Helen Evans, deputy CEO of the GAVI Alliance, the global immunization group overseeing the deal, said in an interview the detailed agreement would be formally announced in the coming weeks. The Reuters report was cited the next day by Ambrian, a small but respected broker in the pharma sector, which highlighted the potential for more such deals, including one for Glaxo`s experimental malaria vaccine Mosquirix. The story was also picked up by newspapers in Asia and North America.