GENEVA, 16th April 2011: The World Health Organization (WHO) said Saturday an agreement has been reached on sharing flu virus samples, hammered out after intense negotiations by a group on preparations for flu pandemics (influenza-epidemier).
The deal came four years after a working group comprised of representatives of member states was formed. It met this past week in Geneva with the goal of reaching a final accord. The deal must still be approved at the WHO’s annual meeting in Geneva next month.
Developing countries had for years refused to freely share samples of viruses such as bird flu (fugleinfluenza) because they claimed drug companies would profit from vaccines their own citizens would not be able to afford. The deal foresees that drug companies either share the vaccine formula or reserve some of their vaccine production for poor countries in case of a future pandemic.
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), which represents 26 research-based drug makers, welcomed the plan and confirmed the commitments its members had undertaken as part of it.
IFPMA’s members had pledged to “reserve at least 10 percent of pandemic vaccine manufacturing capacity on a real-time basis, for donation to the WHO and/or supply at tiered (niveau-delte) prices, to developing countries”, it said.
They would also reserve at least 10 percent of antiviral manufacturing capacity for donation on the same basis.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
