Drug giant Pfizer Inc., which shuttered its human vaccine unit in 1976, reopened it in the fall by acquiring a small British vaccine company. Even with planned layoffs announced last week, Pfizer says it intends to increase funding in its vaccine business.
Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline recently have invested billions expanding their vaccine trades by buying up smaller players and expanding research programs.
Jean Stephenne, president of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, expects his company to have five new vaccines in the next five years and that its vaccine business will grow from 6% of the company's sales this year to 14% by 2010.
Overall, the number of vaccines in development has risen from 285 in 1996 to 450 today.
Drug executives say they can charge considerably more for today's vaccines -- up to several hundred dollars or more -- versus a few dollars for older vaccines.
Prevnar, a vaccine introduced in 2000 to treat pneumococcal pneumonia -- the cause of up to a quarter of all community-acquired pneumonia cases each year -- runs about $250 for a four-shot series. It became the first vaccine to clock $1 billion in annual sales, giving it so-called blockbuster status.
Overall, the vaccine industry rang up $10 billion in sales in 2005, up from $6 billion in 2002. The market is estimated to reach $15 billion by the end of the decade.
Other factors increasing industry confidence in the sector: more funding from donors like the Gates Foundation, and novel proposals for increased vaccine research.
Typically, Third World countries can't afford to buy new vaccines and don't get access to them until a generation after their introduction, if ever. The lack of potential profits has blunted many drug companies' interest in researching and producing vaccines to treat diseases, such as malaria, found predominantly in poorer countries.
But that is slowly changing. At the Group of 8 summit in Russia last year, several countries proposed upfront financing for vaccine development, creating incentives for manufacturers.
And Geneva-based GAVI Alliance, a partnership created in 2000 that counts among its sponsors the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation, is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to expand vaccine research and distribution.
