Our partnership with vaccine companies in the industrialised world harnesses their research and technical expertise to supply vaccines that address the needs of developing countries.

Representatives of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) have one seat on the Gavi Board. The IFPMA represents more than 55 members of national industry associations, including Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Novartis, Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi-Aventis and Pfizer.

Building on their engagement in the Children's Vaccine Initiative launched in 1990, IFPMA members have worked in partnership with the Vaccine Alliance since its launch in 2000, supplying vaccines to a number of key Gavi-supported programmes:

• Janssen (former Crucell) supplied the first internationally-available, fully liquid pentavalent (5-in-1) vaccine Quinvaxem™. In 2015, the company reaffirmed its pledge of making its pentavalent vaccine available at UNICEF prices to Gavi transitioned countries over the next five years.

• GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) extended its price-freeze commitment in favour of countries transitioning out of Gavi's financial support on 26 January 2015. GSK also reaffirmed that if the company identifies new manufacturing efficiencies that reduce the costs of producing these vaccines, it will pass those savings on to Gavi and its donors.

• Merck has provided funding for various vaccine initiatives in the past, including the Merck Vaccine Network - Africa ; as well as a programme providing rotavirus vaccination for all infants in Nicaragua from 2006 to 2009. Merck is expected to supply about 2.4 million doses of GARDASIL, the vaccine against HPV, between 2013 and 2017.
  
  As part of its commitment to protecting children's health by improving affordability, availability, and accessibility of vaccines, in 2015 Merck extended its Gavi prices for Gardasil® [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] and RotaTeq® (Rotavirus Vaccine, Live, Oral, Pentavalent) to countries that have transitioned out of Gavi’s financial support for 10 years (2016-2025). This commitment will be available through the UNICEF procurement process to countries that have a GNI per capita of US $3200 and less.

• Sanofi Pasteur committed in 2015 to expand the production of yellow fever vaccine to address chronic shortages, and promised to offer Gavi-level pricing for Gavi transitioned countries until the end of 2018. The company will also continue to contribute to the polio endgame by providing inactivated polio vaccine to Gavi countries for delivery in routine immunisation. The company also announced the expansion of its EPIVAC vaccinator training programme in Nigeria, in collaboration with Agence de Médecine Préventive.

• Pfizer recently agreed to reduce the price per dose for its pneumococcal vaccine, from US$ 3.30 per dose to US$ 3.10 per dose for the new 4-dose vial presentation, which is expected to be introduced under the Advance Market Commitment programme. This new lower price will be extended to all Gavi-eligible and transitioned countries until the end of 2025.

ADVANCE MARKET COMMITMENT

Cooperation with Gavi has included participating in innovative financing mechanisms, such as the Advance Market Commitment (AMC), which provides a platform for investing in the development of a sustainable supply of breakthrough vaccines.

This enables developing countries to receive vaccines more quickly than would have been possible under normal market mechanisms and at prices far lower than those paid in developed countries.

IFPMA members have also helped to develop technologies that facilitate the distribution of vaccines and the way they are administered. They further support our immunisation strategy both by contributing to the education of public health officials and by working to engage other private sector organisations in our mission.