Big Pharma backs deal to boost flu pandemic readiness

Virus samples will be shared globally in exchange for vaccines produced from them under a landmark deal to improve preparedness for a flu pandemic, diplomats at the World Health Organization said on Saturday.

In a statement to Reuters, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, which represents 26 research-based drugmakers, welcomed the plan and confirmed the commitments its members had undertaken as part of it.

Negotiators ended an all-night session with a draft agreement accepted by all countries, including the United States, the last to join the consensus, diplomats said.

"The negotiations are finished. The framework was agreed," an aide to Mexico's ambassador Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, co-chairman of the closed-door talks, told Reuters.

Health ministers were expected to adopt the framework deal, which lays down participation by the drug industry, at the WHO's annual meeting being held May 16-24.

Countries would share virus samples with the WHO's network of laboratories in return for affordable vaccines derived from them. The industry has pledged to donate drugs and know-how, covering half of the $58 million annual cost of boosting defenses in the poorest nations, according to senior envoys.

Negotiations began four years ago among the WHO's 193 members after the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus emerged in southeast Asia. A year later, Indonesia stopped sharing flu virus samples with the WHO, demanding its share of vaccines.

Indonesia joined in the consensus reached, diplomats said.

SECURING THE WORLD

The IFPMA, whose Big Pharma members span Europe, Japan and the United States, said it was studying the plan that would need "fine-tuning" in the coming year.

GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis, are among major flu vaccine makers, and along with Tamiflu-maker Roche, are IFPMA members.

But negotiators appeared to have "reached a decision that will result in an effective global system to prepare for potential future influenza pandemics, recognizing a shared responsibility to help secure the world against future pandemic influenza outbreaks," the Geneva-based IFPMA said in a statement sent to Reuters by an authorized industry source.

In talks with negotiators, its 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 prices, to developing countries," it said.

They would also reserve at least 10 percent of antiviral manufacturing capacity for donation on the same basis.

"It is crucial that the system allow for rapid access to pandemic viruses and for benefits to be allocated to those countries most in need," the IFPMA said