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John Dawson, the founder and former CEO of Alliance Pharma, has donated £5million to the University of Sunderland towards the creation of a new drug research centre. The donation - the biggest in the university's history - will create the John Dawson Drug Discovery and Development Research Institute to improve health and wellbeing of millions of people worldwide. The new centre has been named after the pharmaceutical entrepreneur and Sunderland graduate who, alongside wife Sam, has provided the funding. He and Sam were on Thursday (April 20) joined by specially invited guests from across the region's health, education, and business communities, to launch the Institute housed in the University's Sciences Complex. Unveiling a plaque inside the building, John said: "It's an absolute honour and privilege to be able to launch the new Drug Discovery and Development Research Institute at the University of Sunderland today. "It's been wonderful to be back on the campus and see the incredible developments that have taken place since I studied pharmacy here more than 50 years ago. "I was immediately impressed at what has been achieved in that intervening half-century and I've been delighted to assist the University continue its development, particularly in the health arena. "I hope the launch of this institute will mark the next phase in the University's evolution and I'm very much looking forward to working with the team as they bring their projects to fruition."

An alliance of companies has pledged to ensure equitable access to vaccines and treatments for pandemics, as the friction around intellectual property rights for Covid-19 interventions between the pharmaceutical industry and developing nations endures. At the heart of the plan is a commitment to set aside part of the production of vaccines and treatments upfront for vulnerable populations in low-income countries when the next pandemic arises, given how fragmented access to Covid tools has left many populations unprotected. In order to do better next time - and without knowing which companies will develop the first drugs and vaccines for the next pandemic - having the industry collectively make this commitment is potentially transformative, said Thomas Cueni, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). The pledge, called the Berlin Declaration, was made on July 19 by members of the global pharmaceutical industry group that include many of the companies involved in developing Covid interventions, such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Moderna, Pfizer and Merck. The declaration is not legally binding. However, if a company that signed on reneges on its vow, it would face grave consequences in the court of public opinion, said Cueni.