Devex CheckUp: Everyone wants to stop the next pandemic. But do they want to pay for it?

The Serum Institute of India is preparing for the next major outbreak, but its CEO is starting to wonder if major donors care.

Serum recently signed up to be a key player in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations’ 100-days mission. The goal is to put researchers and manufacturers in a position to develop a viable vaccine within 100 days of the start of the next pandemic.

Serum’s role is to essentially have production facilities on standby so that when an outbreak occurs, it can launch into rapid production as soon as a vaccine is identified. But this costs money, says Serum’s CEO Adar Poonawalla, because the company has to keep a facility available and running.

He puts the cost at $100 million annually but says they’re nowhere near receiving that kind of support. CEPI has pledged $30 million. Poonawalla says he worries that the “interest and importance of what they call pandemic preparedness, this sort of lost its political will and charm and everything.”

CEPI is also looking to harness new — potentially cost-saving —technologies as it prepares its 100-days mission. The coalition is working with researchers to use artificial intelligence to analyze the genomic sequences of viruses and figure out how they might interact with people’s potential immune responses. AI might also help narrow down promising immunogens, or molecules capable of eliciting an immune response in a human body against a pathogen.

Essentially, tasks that previously seemed overwhelmingly complex might be ripe for assistance from AI.

With these steps, CEPI and its partners are inching closer to being able to respond to a pandemic in 100 days. But AI can only save so much money. In addition to the cost of maintaining production facilities, researchers will also be looking at expenses such as laboratory testing and clinical trials. The mission’s ultimate success may still depend on whether its members can keep key donors focused on pandemic preparedness as a global priority.

Read: Local doesn't mean low cost — Serum Institute shares global scale-up plans

Learn more: How CEPI and its partners are using AI to prepare for ‘Disease X’ (Pro)

+ Devex Pro members can get the most out of our coverage on how AI is getting integrated into globaldev work

Brief reprieve

Devex Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger tells me that PEPFAR, the global HIV/AIDS program credited with saving tens of millions of lives since its inception 20 years ago, is expected to get a 12-month reauthorization as part of this year’s foreign affairs budget bill. PEPFAR has become a political football after years as a rare bipartisan project, but it’ll now be funded through March 2025.

Read: PEPFAR gets a one-year reauthorization reprieve

+ Join us on April 3 for our next event where we'll discuss how a second Trump or Biden administration could shape the U.S. role in foreign aid and development. Save your spot now.

A shot in the arm

The push to get girls in low- and middle-income countries vaccinated against HPV is starting to meet with success nearly two decades after the immunization first became available.

The jab protects against cervical cancer that can be caused by persistent infections with human papillomavirus. It is one of the only cancers that is almost entirely preventable. Yet, there are an estimated 350,000 deaths globally each year and 90% of them are in LMICs.

WHO and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, are spearheading the latest push to get more girls around the world immunized against HPV. They have been conducting regular meetings to convince countries to increase access to the vaccine, while also fundraising from donors like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UNICEF to support the efforts.

The goal is to get as many countries as possible to integrate HPV vaccines into their routine immunization programs. Short of that, officials want to raise awareness so that girls and their caregivers request the jab.

But one Indian model took a controversial approach to drawing attention to the importance of the vaccine. Last month, Poonam Pandey’s team announced her death from cervical cancer on social media. A day later, she revealed that it was a stunt to raise awareness about the disease and to promote the vaccine.

It was a divisive move, but there’s no doubt that it was effective — at least temporarily. Google queries for cervical cancer surged, though it’s unclear whether that will translate into more girls being vaccinated. Getting the vaccine included in India’s national immunization schedule might be a surer way of getting girls vaccinated.

Read: WHO and Gavi’s push for HPV vaccines gathers momentum

Read more: Cervical cancer death hoax sparks debate over celebrity health advocacy

The big one

The U.S. Agency for International Development is about to have fierce competition on its hands for a potentially $5 billion award to provide HIV/AIDS commodities over the next decade. The contract is part of the NextGen suite of programs, the 10-year, $17 billion revamp of USAID’s procurement and supply process.

It may be a new process, but the winner of the contract is likely to be one of USAID’s standard industry players, as the agency seeks to ensure nothing goes wrong with the contract.

Read: USAID’s largest NextGen contract unveiled — who will get $5 billion (Pro)

+ Not a Devex Pro member yet? Start your 15-day free trial to read the piece and get access to all our expert analyses, insider insights, exclusive events, career resources, and more.

Devex CheckUp @ WHA77

Not going to be able to make it to Geneva for the World Health Assembly in May? Or are you planning to attend but unsure where to find the most incisive discussions on the future of global health? Either way, we’ve got you covered.

The people behind this newsletter will be in Geneva for events with some of the most important people in the global health space. That includes Dr. Hanan Balkhy, WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean; Jagan Chapagain, the secretary-general and CEO of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; and Austin Demby, Sierra Leone’s minister of health.

They’ll be part of the two days of discussions we have planned. Don’t miss out. Sign up here to join us in person or online on May 28-29.

What we’re reading

Kenya’s doctors went on strike after the government failed to introduce a raft of promised reforms, leaving some patients without critical medical care. [ABC News]

Patent protections have allowed a company to set the price on a miracle cystic fibrosis drug out of reach to most patients. Now South Africans are suing for access. [The Guardian]

A new vaccine for tuberculosis — the first in more than a century — is one step closer to being available to patients as it enters phase 3 trials. [CIDRAP]