The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced that it will donate $38 million to Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Japan to help develop a low-cost polio vaccine for developing countries. Experts fear that there could be an impending worldwide shortage of the lifesaving vaccine, especially now that countries are switching from using the oral polio vaccine (OPV) to the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV). To help mitigate this, healthcare workers are encouraging new drug manufacturers into the sector. In a statement Chris Elias, the Gates Foundation’s head of global development, said the partnership would help “ensure that the world has enough vaccine to get the job done and maintain a polio-free world.” Takeda Pharmaceuticals is expected to use the donation to develop, license, and supply at least 50 million doses annually of the Sabin-strain inactivated poliovirus vaccine (sIPV) to more than 70 developing countries.

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