GlaxoSmithKline’s Rotarix to be used in Ghana vaccination scheme

GlaxoSmithKline has welcomed an announcement by the GAVI Alliance that its rotavirus vaccine Rotarix will be used in a new national vaccination programme in Ghana.

The pharmaceutical company will begin sending supplies of the drug to the African nation via Unicef, with the aim of protecting millions of children from the deadly rotavirus diarrhoeal disease.

This comes after GlaxoSmithKline agreed to provide up to 132 million doses of the drug to the GAVI Alliance at a reduced price over the next five years.

Vaccines produced by GlaxoSmithKline are included in immunisation campaigns in 173 countries worldwide, with 870 million of the 1.1 billion vaccine doses delivered in 2011 going to developing nations.

Christophe Weber, president of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, said: "We are determined to play our part in accelerating access to new medicines and vaccines to help improve the health and wellbeing of people around the world."

This comes after the company recently announced an agreement with the University of Nottingham to open an innovative new carbon-neutral laboratory for sustainable chemistry.