GSK, GAVI Alliance to supply HPV vaccine to poor countries

Christophe Weber, president and general manager, GSK Vaccines said: "Cervical cancer is a significant issue especially in poorer countries where the availability of screening is limited. We are pleased to be expanding our commitment to GAVI by delivering our Cervarix vaccine to help protect girls in the developing world. This continues our significant commitment to make our vaccines accessible to as many people as possible, no matter where in the world they live. We hope that this will help reduce the burden of cervical cancer and positively impact future generations."

"A vast gap currently exists between girls in rich and poor countries. With GAVI's programmes we can begin to bridge that gap so that all girls can be protected against cervical cancer no matter where they are born," said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance. "By 2020 we hope to reach more than 30 million girls in more than 40 countries. This is a transformational moment for the health of women and girls across the world. We thank the manufacturers for working with us to help make this happen."

The approved GAVI demonstration programmes will begin over the coming months and will help build vital experience in delivering cervical cancer vaccines to girls aged 9 years and over. The demonstration programmes will enable the countries to evaluate their ability to roll out national immunisation programmes.

GSK currently supplies more than 80% of its total vaccine volumes to developing countries and is a long-standing partner with GAVI. This latest commitment adds to existing agreements to supply up to 480 million doses of its pneumococcal vaccine to GAVI over the next 10 years and 132 million doses of its rotavirus vaccine to GAVI over the next five years.