title: Current Global Pricing For Human Papillomavirus Vaccines Brings The Greatest Economic Benefits To Rich Countries.
abstract: Vaccinating females against human papillomavirus (HPV) prior to the debut of sexual activity is an effective way to prevent cervical cancer, yet vaccine uptake in low- and middle-income countries has been hindered by high vaccine prices. We created an economic model to estimate the distribution of the economic surplus-the sum of all health and economic benefits of a vaccine, minus the costs of development, production, and distribution-among different country income groups and manufacturers for a cohort of twelve-year-old females in 2012. We found that manufacturers may have received economic returns worth five times their original investment in HPV vaccine development. High-income countries gained the greatest economic surplus of any income category, realizing over five times more economic value per vaccinated female than low-income countries did. Subsidizing vaccine prices in low- and middle-income countries could both reduce financial barriers to vaccine adoption and still allow high-income countries to retain their economic surpluses and manufacturers to retain their profits.
authors: Niamh Herlihy is a research assistant at the Centre Virchow-Villermé de Santé Publique, in Paris, France. At the time of this research, she was a master's degree student at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in England.
authors: Niamh
authors: N
authors: Herlihy
authors: Raymond Hutubessy is a senior economist in the Department of Immunization, Vaccines, and Biologicals, World Health Organization, in Geneva, Switzerland.
authors: Raymond
authors: R
authors: Hutubessy
authors: Mark Jit (mark.jit@lshtm.ac.uk) is a reader in vaccine epidemiology in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Jit
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D019049:Developed Countries; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods; D018803:Models, Economic; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000191:economics*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines
keywords: Disparities; Health Economics; International/global health studies; Public Health; Vaccines