NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, May 9, 2016

Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceuticals is to get $38 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a crucial, low-cost polio vaccine for use in developing countries.

As part of a global plan to eradicate the crippling disease, of which experts say the world could see the last case this year, countries will need to switch from using oral polio vaccine (OPV) to using so-called inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) to ensure the disease does not reappear.

Experts fear a substantial worldwide shortage of IPV once every country in the world is ready to make the switch, and polio eradication strategists have been looking at how to avert that shortfall by encouraging new manufacturers into the sector.

Chris Elias, the Gates Foundation’s head of global development, said the partnership would help “ensure that the world has enough vaccine to get the job done and maintain a polio-free world”.