G8 Discusses Pilot AMC

As previously covered here, the G8 is planning to launch a pilot advance market commitment later this year. An article in the Wall Street Journal covers the most recent developments from the G8 meeting in Moscow this past weekend:

Advised by the World Bank and other outside experts, G-8 negotiators are working through details, including which of six Third World killers should be the test case: HIV/AIDS; malaria; tuberculosis; pneumococcus, a source of pneumonia and meningitis; rotavirus, which causes fatal diarrhea in children; or human papillomavirus, a cause of cervical cancer.

G-8 officials are working to clear obstacles to the project, including how much each nation would contribute to the purchase fund.
The debate over which disease the pilot project should target reflects a philosophical decision the G-8 must face. Some countries might prefer to pick a disease for which a promising vaccine already is well into development, but which, without the advance commitment, might not be manufactured widely enough to help poor countries. Such a choice might lead to faster, more-certain success.
Others may want to aim at the tougher scientific challenges, such as HIV/AIDS or malaria, for which a promising vaccine might be over the horizon, some 10 or 15 years away.