The Financial Times quotes CGD vice president for programs and operations, and senior fellow Ruth Levine on advanced market commitments.
From the article:
"But the proponents of advanced market commitments (AMCs) believe the problems can be overcome. 'There’s no question that there’s going to be a way to deal with these challenges in a sensible, analytically based way,' argues Ruth Levine, vice-president of the Center for Global Development, a think-tank based in Washington, DC, which has been a leading force in evaluating and advocating AMCs. 'By that I mean that a proposal or contract will be written that makes sense and is based on good empirical work.'
The pilot is the pneumococcal vaccine pledge, made in principle back in February 2007, and now being hammered out. It is a big deal -- a lot of money is on the table, with the potential to save many millions of lives at a low cost. Yet compared with other possible AMCs, the pneumococcal problem is relatively simple: two credible vaccines are in the late stages of development. Levine acknowledges that this example is as close to a procurement contract as to a pure innovation prize, but believes there is much to be learned from the exercise about whether donors can make a commitment together and handle the legal and accounting challenges. 'What this won’t be is a pure test of whether putting a market-like offer out a long distance into the future will give firms an incentive to do early-stage R&D,' she says."