Making connections on technologies, health and development

Just an FYI - the British Department for Int'l Dev'l'p runs an information center, ID21.org, that produces several newsletters on various aspects of Development. From their health newsletter, I saw this the other week:

Treating diseases of poverty: creating markets for advance drug purchasing

"While new drugs and vaccines are needed to treat diseases of poverty, not enough is being invested in developing these products because of the lack of a demand or market for them. Advance price or purchase commitments potentially offer a solution, yet a number of structure and design issues first need to be resolved..."

One such mechanism, the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), will issue bonds in October to guarantee markets for future vaccines under a plan backed by Britain and seven other countries.