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Interview
Q & A with Mark Alderson
Due to efforts by a number of global partners, including PATH, a more affordable pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), PNEUMOSIL®, is now helping fight deadly childhood pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases like meningitis, sepsis, and otitis media. Dr. Mark Alderson, director of PATH’s pneumococcal vaccine project, reflects as the PATH project supporting the vaccine’s development sunsets.
Q: Why another PCV?
A: PCVs save lives but aren’t equitably accessible, mainly due to price. Even as Gavi financing has helped low-income economies introduce PCVs at discounted prices, millions of children still lack access to PCVs due to budgetary constraints—especially in middle-income and Gavi-graduating economies. More sustainably affordable PCVs have long been needed. In 2008, PATH and Serum Institute of India, Pvt. Ltd. set out to meet this need. The result was a state-of-the-art PCV that’s now available for low- and middle-income economies at just US$2 per dose—the lowest price for any PCV, ever.
Q: What strategies led to success?
A: PNEUMOSIL’s 10 serotypes achieve disease coverage in high-burden regions that matches or exceeds predecessor PCVs and keeps manufacturing costs as low as possible. Serum Institute optimized several manufacturing processes, maintaining high vaccine quality at lower cost. We also generated valuable cross-geographical data and accelerated regulatory approvals via parallel clinical development programs in The Gambia and India. MRC Unit The Gambia at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, multiple study sites in India, and other partners were central to this creative strategy’s success.
Q: What's the impact?
A: With Indian licensure and WHO prequalification, PNEUMOSIL is now used in India’s Universal Immunization Program and is being introduced in other countries. Serum Institute will also supply UNICEF with 10 million doses per year for low-income countries over the next decade, helping to free up millions of dollars each year that could be used for other health care needs. We’re proud that it’s starting to reach more children, sustaining ongoing PCV programs, and saving more lives.
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January 2022 | 
