G7 pledge $1 billion for vaccine development

The Group of Seven (G7) leading industrial nations have pledged to fund around $1 billion of pharmaceutical company research into vaccines to prevent diseases afflicting poor countries.

Finance ministers from the UK, US, Japan, Germany, Canada, France and Italy met in London at the weekend and discussed the proposal from Italian finance minister Giulio Tremonti.

The plan, which forces donor countries to pay only if and when a vaccine is found, will target AIDS, tuberculosis, human papillomavirus, pneumococcus and malaria.

Mr Tremonti had originally proposed a scheme that would cost closer to $7.6 billion but told a news conference after the meeting: “We have had full approval for our plan on vaccines.”

The first stage of the plan will involve the presentation of a pilot project on how to finance research into new vaccines at the next G7 meeting in Washington next April.

This pilot will focus on vaccines for diseases such as gastro-enteritis, the sexually transmitted disease human papillomavirus, or pneumococcus which can trigger pneumonia and meningitis, which are all close to finding a treatment.

At the end of the pilot one of the diseases will be chosen for further work and funding.

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