Skip to Search Global Search Media Investors Consumers Healthcare professionals Business to business Partnerships Contact us About us Products Careers Our stories Research Responsibility Media GSK/Novartis transaction Press releases Media contact details Social media Resource centre Image and video library Home Media Press releases GSK response to MSF vaccine report GSK response to MSF vaccine report 07 May 2015 Millions more children from the world’s poorest countries are being vaccinated against more diseases than ever before. This is a good thing and has been made possible by unprecedented cooperation between governments, NGOs and pharmaceutical companies. We have been making a major contribution to broadening access to vaccines for decades. Since the early 1990’s, under our tiered pricing policy, we ask countries to pay different prices based on their differing income levels rather than a single flat rate. At the same time, we have comprehensive vaccine research programmes in critical areas that affect poorer countries such as malaria, TB, HIV and Ebola. Around 80% of all of GSK’s vaccines, including our pneumococcal vaccine, were provided to developing countries last year (including least developed, low and middle income countries) at a substantial discount to western prices. We offer our lowest prices to Gavi and UNICEF, which purchase vaccines for the world’s poorest children. These prices can be as little as 10% of developed world prices. We also continue to look at other opportunities to support vaccination in developing countries. In January 2015 for example we committed to a ten-year price freeze for countries that graduate from Gavi support due to increased economic wealth to help ensure that children can continue to be vaccinated. Many of our available vaccines are advanced and complex and require significant upfront capital investment to make and supply. Our pneumococcal vaccine is one of the most complex we’ve ever manufactured, essentially combining 10 vaccines in one. We will provide 720 million doses of pneumococcal vaccine for Gavi-eligible countries over the next 10 years at a deeply discounted price. At this level, we are able to just cover our costs. To discount it further would threaten our ability to supply it to these countries in the long-term. Nevertheless, we continue to look at ways to reduce production costs and any savings we make we would pass on to Gavi. Q&A MSF has again called for a reduction in the price of pneumococcal vaccine, what is GSK’s response? Many of our available vaccines are advanced and complex and require significant upfront capital investment to make and supply. Our pneumococcal vaccine is one of the most complex we’ve ever manufactured, essentially combining 10 vaccines in one. For Gavi-eligible countries, we are providing this vaccine at a deeply discounted price. At this level, we are able to just cover our costs. To discount it further would threaten our ability to supply it to these countries in the long-term. Nevertheless, we continue to look at ways to reduce production costs and any savings we make we would pass on to Gavi. Why won’t GSK drop its price for pneumococcal vaccine to $5? We already provide our pneumococcal vaccine to Gavi-eligible countries at a deeply discounted price. In order to continue to widen access to vaccines to protect people from serious disease, we must ensure we have a sustainable business for the long-term. This means balancing our social obligations with creating value for our investors. Providers of the capital which enables investment in R&D expect a return on their investment – and this is essential to enabling us to broaden access to more products for more people across the world. Overcoming biological barriers to develop effective vaccines is difficult, risky, lengthy and costly, with complex issues in manufacturing and security of supply, and increasingly stringent regulatory compliance. We work with world-class clinical development programmes and manufacture in state-of-the-art, tightly-regulated facilities, employing highly-trained, highly- experienced, highly-committed people. MSF points to a 68% increase in the price of the basic EPI package of vaccines since 2001, why has this increase occurred? We have never increased our prices to Gavi. In fact, there have been price reductions. The increase MSF points to is due to new highly complex vaccines being added to the routine vaccination programme, meaning more children are getting vaccinated against more diseases than ever before. The recommended routine vaccination course has expanded significantly over the last 10-15 years, specifically from 6 to 12 antigen vaccines, including increasingly complex vaccines. This has implications not only on costs of procurement for full course immunisation but many other factors also such as the delivery system, cold chain capacity and planning and management of implementing programmes. The price change for the full course reflects the augmented range and complexity of vaccines included, not a stepwise increase in individual vaccine prices. Why can you not be more transparent about the pricing of your vaccines? Commercial sensitivities and anti-competition rules are such that we do not publish our prices; however our commitment to greater transparency means we are willing to share details about the criteria we apply when tendering for government contracts. Won’t developing world manufacturers of pneumococcal vaccines offer lower prices? We welcome the emergence of new suppliers that can augment global efforts to increase vaccine availability at accessible prices. However, our long-term commitment and delivery on expanding global access to vaccines should not be compared to promises for the future which are yet to be fulfilled. If these vaccines are delivered, it will likely be well into the future. Why are there such inconsistencies in prices – why does Tunisia pay more than France, and South Africa more than Brazil? The comparisons and allegations made by MSF are misleading, comparing public market to private market prices. GSK does not sell Synflorix in France, and in Tunisia we sell only in the private market, because the government has chosen an alternative vaccine for its public programme. Therefore MSF is comparing GSK’s private market price in one country with a competitor’s public market price in another. Terms of use Accessibility Cookie policy Privacy © 2001-2015 GSK group of companies. All rights reserved. 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