Pilot AMC

Research supports the idea that early, guaranteed commitments will encourage potential vaccine suppliers to invest in R&D and production capacity to serve developing countries. This is because potential vaccine suppliers will be confident that there will be a viable market if they supply products that eligible countries want to buy. The advisory process concluded that AMCs are a feasible, innovative, sustainable, cost-effective, results-oriented, and market-based tool in the fight against global disease and poverty.

The first AMC pilot is for a vaccine to prevent Pneumococcal disease. A pneumococcal pilot AMC has two overarching benefits: First, it will save lives quickly. Second, its success in stimulating industry investment will be measurable.

With its long-term, sustainable impact, the proposed pilot AMC will prevent up to an estimated 5.8 million childhood deaths by 2030. It will achieve this goal by accelerating GAVI-eligible country access to new, life-saving pneumococcal vaccines.

In addition to reducing the 1.6 million deaths occurring annually from pneumococcal disease, these vaccines have growing importance: there is increasing antibiotic resistance to treatment of pneumococcal infections, and vaccines will contribute to pandemic influenza preparedness by preventing pneumococcal pneumonia - a frequent and severe consequence of influenza infection. Based on historical experience, in the absence of an AMC or other financial effort, no pneumococcal vaccines will reach the worlds poorest countries before about 2023.

Pneumococcal vaccines are the right choice for the pilot AMC for a late-stage vaccine because:

• Pneumococcal vaccines that fit within existing immunization delivery systems have a proven ability to protect children and improve child survival in the same communities where the burden of disease is greatest.
• Commercial, not scientific, hurdles are major obstacles to industry decisions that will accelerate introduction of pneumococcal vaccines. AMCs are a market-based solution to a market failure, designed to address the major vaccine capacity and supply obstacles that keeps these vaccines from widespread use.
• Success can be defined by industrys willingness and commitment to build manufacturing capacity that would not otherwise have been built. This is easily measured and is expected to occur quickly.
• An AMC will provide good value for money. Because there is a large global market for pneumococcal vaccines, the pilot AMC will leverage existing industry investments in research and development that were driven by the high and middle-income markets and ultimately, only pay for the incremental investment needed to supply developing countries.

Related Information

Supporters

Objectives of the Pilot AMC