GlaxoSmithKline provides pneumococcal vaccine to Kenya

GlaxoSmithKline has assisted healthcare authorities in Kenya in distributing its pneumococcal vaccine Synflorix via an innovative financing mechanism.

The country is to offer the treatment via its national immunisation programme, which will allow millions of children to gain protection from the world's leading killer of under-fives.

It is the first vaccine to be introduced in Africa as part of the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) initiative, which is backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and five donor countries, including the UK.

This will allow Kenyan authorities to purchase the treatment at a 90 percent discount compared to its price in developed countries.

Jean Stephenne, chairman and president of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, said: "The architects of the AMC have delivered on their promise to accelerate access to vaccines for children living in the world's poorest countries."

Last week, GlaxoSmithKline announced that it has begun clinical trials of two of its promising new treatment options for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.