A new, $1.5 billion program will be announced today by a group of countries and non-profits, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that struggled for quite awhile to find a way to entice drugmakers to distribute their vaccines in poor nations.

The Advance Market Commitments for Vaccines Against Neglected Diseases program aims to create vaccine markets by pinpointing needed vaccines in late-stage research, negotiating prices in advance, and reimbursing countries for their eventual purchases - somewhat like a health insurer may cover drug purchases by a patient, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

This may ring some registers at GlaxoSmithKline, Sanof-Aventis, Merck and Wyeth. Among the countries lining up to fund the effort are Canada, the U.K., Italy and Norway.

Where is Uncle Sam?

A Treasury Department spokeswoman offered this marble-mouthed statement: “The United States welcomes the opportunity to work with others on the development of critically needed medical treatments. However, given the budgetary restrictions on making a long-term binding commitment, we are not in a position to make a financial commitment at this time.”

Really? The White House certainly pays attention to the issue of accessible and affordable medicines overseas when patent disputes erupt between drugmakers and other countries. Maybe shifting a few funds from the U.S. Trade Rep’s budget would be a start.

[tags]Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Sanofi-Aventis, Vaccines, Wyeth[/tags]