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Roy Widdus

Publications and source records attributed to Roy Widdus.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Public-private partnerships: an overview.

The development and marketing of medicines needed specifically to combat diseases of the developing world are commercially unattractive because the populations concerned are among the poorest on earth. Partnerships which bring together pharmaceutical companies, academics, not-for-profit organizations, philanthropists, governmental and inter-governmental agencies are an increasingly popular solution. These partnerships result in a complementarity of skills and resources that can accelerate the development and delivery of new medicines to those in need. Over the last 10 years or so, these public-private partnerships (PPPs) have grown significantly in number and diversity. However, they tend to cluster into two main groups: those dealing with product development (PD PPPs), and those concerned with improving the access of new medicines to target populations (Access PPPs). The Initiative on Public-Private Partnerships for Health was set up four years ago to monitor the performance of these new partnerships. After a series of studies of Access PPPs, it concluded that they provide significant benefits with very few side effects, particularly in the case of tropical diseases.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed2003

Estimation of "needs" and "probable uptake" for HIV/AIDS preventive vaccines based on possible policies and likely acceptance (a WHO/UNAIDS/IAVI study).

Once an effective HIV vaccine is discovered, a major challenge will be to ensure its world wide access. A preventive vaccine with low or moderate efficacy (30-50%) could be a valuable prevention tool, especially if targeted to populations at higher risk of HIV infection. High efficacy vaccines (80-90%) could be used in larger segments of the population. Estimated "needs" for future HIV vaccines were based on anticipated policies regarding target populations. Estimated "needs" were adjusted for "accessibility" and "acceptability" in the target populations, to arrive at an estimate of "probable uptake", i.e. courses of vaccine likely to be delivered. With a high efficacy vaccine, global needs are in the order of 690 million full immunization courses, targeting 22 and 69%, respectively, of the 15-49 years old, world wide and in sub-Saharan Africa, respectively. With a low/moderate efficacy vaccine targeted to populations at higher risk of HIV infection, the global needs were estimated to be 260 million full immunization courses, targeting 8 and 41%, respectively, of the world and sub-Saharan African population aged 15-49 years. The current estimate of probable uptake for hypothetical HIV vaccines, using existing health services and delivery systems, was 38% of the estimated need for a high efficacy vaccine, and 19% for a low/moderate efficacy vaccine. Bridging the gap between the estimated needs and the probable uptake for HIV vaccines will represent a major public health challenge for the future. The potential advantages and disadvantages of targeted versus universal vaccination will have to be considered.

AIDS Vaccines↗