Learning Objectives for this Presentation:
By the end of the presentation participants will be able to describe trends in research efforts for vaccines versus all pharmaceuticals for major vaccine manufacturers.

Background:
Some economists and pharmaceutical industry representatives believe that the dominant role of government as a purchaser of childhood vaccines may stifle manufacturers' investment in research and development (R&D). In contrast, higher prices of recently developed vaccines indicate that vaccines may be an increasingly promising R&D investment for manufacturers.

Objectives:
To characterize trends in R&D activity for prophylactic vaccines as a proportion of the overall R&D portfolio of the 4 major vaccine manufacturers in the US (identified as Mfrs A, B, C, and D).

Methods:
The investigators queried a proprietary industry database (Pharmaprojects) to identify prophylactic vaccines in preclinical or clinical trials development for the 4 manufacturers in the years 1997 through 2007. The investigators used the same database to identify all biologic and non-biologic pharmaceuticals in development in 1997 through 2007 (accounting for mergers among manufacturers).

Results:
From 1997 to 2007, the number of unique vaccine entities in preclinical or clinical trials stages stayed the same for 2 manufacturers (Mfr A, Mfr B) and increased for the 2 other manufacturers (Mfr C, Mfr D), ranging from 8 to 23 per firm by 2007. Given development of entities overall for these firms over the same period, prophylactic vaccines constituted an increasing share of all biologic and non-biologic entities for Mfr A (7% to 12%), Mfr C (6% to 13%), and Mfr D (4% to 7%), but a decreasing share for Mfr B (13% to 8%).

Conclusions:
Recent expansion of the vaccine component of the overall R&D portfolio by 3 of the 4 manufacturers in the US vaccine market suggests a positive relationship between the current balance of private and public financing of vaccine purchase and recent trends in vaccine prices.