Rapid access to investigational vaccines: an analysis of access provisions

The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies are developing promising new vaccines to tackle some of the world’s highest-burden diseases. This pipeline includes a group of first-ever vaccines, which, if successful, will finally make it possible to immunise children against diseases such as dengue, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Yet, at least one key question remains: how soon will these vaccines be accessible and affordable in the countries that shoulder the largest burdens from these global killers?

For the majority of the pipeline, it is not clear whether companies are taking measures to ensure future vaccines will be affordable and available in sufficient quantities to low- and middle-income countries. To help payers and procurers plan ahead, companies are strongly encouraged to put access strategies and access provisions in place early in the R&D process for vaccines, and to off er details of these provisions and their planned implementation.