GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has increased its commitment to the GAVI Alliance to provide vaccines to developing countries and helping to protect millions more children against infectious diseases. Under this new agreement, GSK will provide an additional 240 million doses of Synflorix to developing countries over the next ten years, helping protect up to 80 million more children from pneumococcal diseases such as meningitis and pneumonia.

This builds on the 480 million doses of the vaccine that GSK has already committed to GAVI through the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) framework, which is designed to bring heavily discounted vaccines to children living in the world’s poorest countries.

GSK provides GAVI with a broad portfolio of vaccines including: Synflorix which protects against pneumococcal disease; Rotarix vaccination for rotavirus, a common cause of diarrhoea; Cervarix which helps protect girls against cervical cancer caused by human papilloma virus; and a combined vaccination for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b.

With this new vaccine supply agreement extension, GSK is committed to provide more than 850 million vaccine doses that will help protect up to 300 million children and adolescent girls in the developing world from these diseases by 2024.

Christophe Weber, president and general manager of Vaccines, GSK said: “Since its creation, GAVI and its support for the Advance Market Commitment has made a tremendous impact, saving millions of children’s lives. Pneumococcal disease however continues to cause death and suffering in our world’s poorest countries. We are proud to extend our commitment to GAVI to help save millions more children from this deadly disease.”

GSK has committed to provide the additional 240 million doses of Synflorix to GAVI at $3.40 per dose, a small fraction of developed world prices.

To date, more than 50 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered to GAVI countries, including Uganda, Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya, Ethiopia and Pakistan. Zambia is the most recent country to include the vaccine in its national immunisation programme under the AMC in July 2013.