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Biosecurity BriefingGates Foundation Awards $39 Million to Develop Flu Vaccines for Resource Poor Countries By Michelle Cantu, January 18, 2008 On January 11, 2008, PATH, an international, non-profit organization, announced a $39 million award from the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation to launch the rapid development of flu vaccines and “innovative vaccine technologies” for developing nations.1 According to the organization’s press release, PATH “will work with public- and private-sector partners to advance the development of new, safe, and effective influenza vaccines that can be produced quickly and economically in large quantities to combat a global influenza pandemic.” The project is expected to take 42 months. Dr. Regina Rabinovich, director of Infectious Disease Development for the Gates Foundation, stated, “A global flu pandemic will require a global response…[and] [e]ffective, affordable vaccines must be made available throughout the world, including developing countries that could be on the front lines of the next pandemic.”1 Currently, influenza vaccines are egg-based, and production is just-in-time; this cumbersome manufacturing process and production timeframe poses serious challenges to generating enough vaccine supplies for pandemic use. PATH will use the Gates funding to explore alternative manufacturing practices that are also cost effective so that developing countries are able to purchase vaccine.1 According to an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Dr. John Boslego, director of the vaccine development program for PATH, said, “There’s a tremendous amount of money already being put into (creating a vaccine for pandemic flu), but those funds are not being used to address the needs of the developing world. Our target population is in poor countries.”2 PATH has also worked to help “poor or middle-income countries start their own vaccine-production operations against neglected diseases such as Japanese encephalitis, meningococcal strains specific to Africa and rotavirus.”2 PATH will examine the possibility of four different strategies for vaccine development, including a live attenuated vaccine, a recombinant vaccine, a peptide-based vaccine, and the use of adjuvants. In addition to vaccine development, PATH has worked in the Eastern European nations of Georgia and Ukraine to strengthen strategies for disease surveillance; develop information, education, and communication activities; and establish procurement activities for response to avian influenza.2 References
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