Making Markets for Vaccines

[dimpy.handa]

An advance market commitment would ensure that funds are available to buy the vaccines when they are developed. It could be structured to guarantee that after the pre-determined number of doses has been purchased at a price that rewards the innovating company, the price would fall to a sustainable level in the long run. Making a commitment in advance to buy vaccines would also create incentives for industry to increase investment in R&D. New commercial investment would complement funding by public and charitable bodies, accelerating the development of vaccines vital to Africa.

 

[swatiraohnlu]

Despite the uncertainties, the market for medicines in the developed world does succeed in generating important new products. Effective and innovative drugs and vaccines are invented, tested, licensed, and produced. The functioning of the market for industrialized countries depends critically on patents, which enable the manufacturer, for a limited time, to limit competition; this means that manufacturers are able to charge consumers a price which is high enough not only to cover the cost of production but also the costs of research and development.