MEDIA RELEASE: ASEAN Working Together to Ensure Availability and Access to Antiviral Drugs and Pandemic Inluenza Vaccine

ASEAN Member States agreed on key strategies to ensure availability and access to antiviral drugs and pandemic influenza vaccine during the ASEAN Meeting on Promoting Access to Antiviral Drugs and Pandemic Influenza Vaccines held on 27-29 January 2010 in Singapore.

Ministries of Health and Food and Drug agencies expressed commitment to work together in formulating regional policies to facilitate domestic production, importation and registration of the antiviral drugs and pandemic influenza vaccines. They would also explore the feasibility of joint procurement to reduce the costs and to secure availability of supply. The sharing of antiviral drugs, vaccines and other resources was also discussed.

At the national level, Member States have been encouraged to enhance partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry to promote transfer of technology and to seek the cooperation of local industries to produce the needed drugs and vaccines.

Consultations were also made with both international and regional pharmaceutical companies to look for win-win schemes that would allow the ASEAN people to have better and quicker access to the needed antiviral drugs and vaccines for pandemic influenza. Such schemes may be also open to drugs and vaccines against other infectious diseases in general. Among the pharmaceutical companies that attended the meeting were Glaxo Smith Kline, Novartis, Roche, Kimia Farma - Indonesia and United Laboratories, Philippines. The US-ASEAN Business Council representative was also present.

 “I am optimistic that practical public-private partnership schemes could be explored to make the drugs and vaccines easily available in the region”, said Mr. Dhannan Sunoto, Director of the Cross-Sectoral Cooperation Directorate of the ASEAN Secretariat after the consultation with the pharmaceutical companies. Sunoto added that further discussions will be held to explore mechanisms for joint production of the drugs and vaccines under voluntary licensing and any other arrangements to supply the drugs and vaccines locally and to other ASEAN countries.

The ASEAN Meeting on Promoting Access to Antiviral Drugs and Pandemic Influenza Vaccines was a follow-up to the Joint Statement of the ASEAN Plus Three Health Ministers Special Meeting on Influenza A (H1N1) held on 8 May 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. It was organised by the ASEAN Secretariat, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Singapore. The Meeting was supported by the ASEAN Plus Three Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme which is funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).