A unique consortium works toward an affordable meningitis vaccine.

In the "meningitis belt" of sub-Saharan Africa, epidemics of the disease occur frequently. Meningitis can strike suddenly, killing about 10 percent of patients within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. About 20 percent of meningitis survivors live with severe, permanent disabilities.

Although meningitis vaccines exist, the more effective conjugate vaccines are too expensive for developing countries, while the cheaper polysaccharide vaccines don't produce long-lasting protection, don't protect children under 2, and don't block transmission of the disease.

In 2005, the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) and the Serum Institute of India Limited (SIIL) conducted Phase I trials on a new vaccine candidate that could offer important improvements over current meningitis vaccines. The new vaccine, whose development is supported by a $70 million foundation grant, is expected to cost just 40 cents a dose, making it affordable for African countries. To produce a vaccine at this price, however, MVP was forced to adjust its initial strategy.

Affordability is a priority for MVP because even the highest-quality vaccine won't save lives if the people who need it don't have access to it. In 2000 and 2001, before vaccine development started, MVP staff had extensive discussions with African health officials, who helped them determine how low the price would have to be to facilitate widespread use of the vaccine. MVP set a target price of less than $1.

In 2001, MVP approached major pharmaceutical companies to discuss developing meningitis vaccines for use in Africa. However, it became clear that manufacturers in industrialized countries would be unable or unwilling to meet the target price, and MVP explored alternative strategies to develop the vaccine. The solution MVP settled on was to build a consortium of partners and transfer the technology required to make the vaccine from the United States to a manufacturer in India.

MVP helped oversee a process in which a company from the Netherlands provided some of the basic components of the vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provided the technology, and SIIL agreed to develop, test, and manufacture the vaccine.

Not only will the meningitis vaccine candidate move on to the next phase of trials in 2006, but MVP's consortium model may be adaptable to accelerate vaccine development for other diseases that affect poor countries.