Glaxo, Merck Support Effort to Boost Vaccine Access

GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Merck & Co. agreed to lower prices for vaccines to protect children against potentially deadly diarrhea, supporting an international effort to help least-developed nations fight diseases.

The GAVI Alliance, set up by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates to give the world’s poorest people better access to life-saving immunizations, also received commitments from India-based drugmakers Serum Institute of India Ltd. and Panacea Biotec Ltd. to cut the price of a key pediatric vaccine, it said today.