Governments urged to put children 'before drug companies' as Pneumonia kills two every minute

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Governments should put the lives of one million children who die each year from pneumonia above the “patents and proprietary claims” of drug companies, according to Save the Children.

A report launched by the charity today calls for a “new deal” on treatments for the disease which causes two children' deaths every minute.

This includes commitments to fund new immunisation programmes and bring down the price of vaccines, as well as distributing basic antibiotics and medical equipment that can treat symptoms before they become life-threatening.

Save the Children CEO Kevin Watkins told The Independent the global health community has “turned a blind eye” to the scale of the pneumonia problem for far too long.

Pneumonia kills more than a million children worldwide each year, and four out of five of these deaths are children under two years old.

Mr Watkins said: “This is, by a very long way, the biggest single killer of children."

The disease is a severe infection of the lower lung, most commonly caused by the bacteria Streptococcus pneumonia.

Malnourishment is a major factor in a child’s ability to fight off infection, so pneumonia disproportionately affects areas that have been through a humanitarian crisis.

In these areas - like Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and Kenya - the charity says its clinics are seeing pneumonia deaths rising despite an overall decrease globally.

Effective vaccines exist for the major causes of pneumonia and could prevent the majority of cases, while first line antibiotics that would cost around 30p in the UK are unaffordable in the areas that need them.

Mr Watkins told The Independent for prices to come down organisations like the World Bank need to commit to buying vaccines or antibiotics that are produced, so manufacturers “will know if they put the investment in there will be a market.”

But it’s also important to have more companies producing to drive prices down through competition. Currently only Pfizer and GSK manufacture vaccines for pneumonia, though both have committed to price freezes.

“One of the problems we highlight in the report is that Pfizer has taken out a patent in India which will obstruct the entrance of one of the new manufacturers, that could come on stream quite quickly.”

“We argue that governments should really prioritise the public health interest, rather than the patent or the proprietary claims of pharmaceutical manufacturers on this.”

A Pfizer spokesperson told The Independent that its patent in India meant more than 1.2 million more doses were administered each year and has helped “protect over 1.5 million child lives in India.”

“Globally, our vaccine’s tiered pricing approach is carefully calibrated to help countries have access to our vaccines. Countries with the least ability to afford a vaccine pay a lower price in accordance with their government’s resources while countries that can afford to pay more are asked do so.”

The Department for International Development said the UK already supports programmes to make vaccines affordable in developing countries.

Former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan is backing the global effort, and said the these countries could ill-afford the $9.15 price tag for vaccines.

“Pharmaceutical companies, governments, aid donors and UN agencies need to come together to make the vaccine prices more affordable to save more lives,” he added.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel said: “Pneumonia is overwhelmingly a disease of poverty with almost all child deaths occurring in developing countries. Tragically four in five of the children who die from this cruel sickness are under the age of two.

“Immunising children is the most effective way to prevent the main causes of pneumonia, stop the deadly disease from spreading and give hope to the next generation. Through Gavi [Bill and Melinda Gates' "Vaccine Alliance"] the UK is providing life-saving vaccines to immunise more than 75 million children from preventable deaths until 2020.”