GHIAA’s Comments on the Negotiating Text of the Pandemic Agreement
Global Healthcare Innovation Alliance Accelerator (GHIAA)
Our vision: A world in which medical innovations are promptly available to all populations in need.
On October 16, 2023, the WHO released a Negotiating Text for the WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (now referred to as the “Pandemic Agreement”) to WHO member states. This latest text follows the previous Bureau’s Text (May 2023), and Zero Draft (February 2023). The Negotiating Text has not yet been officially published on the INB website but is available from Health Policy Watch.
GHIAA has crafted a set of comments and recommendations that seek to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on the provisions of the Pandemic Agreement, with a focus on the sections most relevant to the formation of partnerships and agreements related to publicly funded R&D, licensing and technology transfer, material transfer, and the procurement of pandemic-related products. We invite you to read our full recommendations on our website.
The Parties to the Pandemic Agreement should commit to attaching equitable access conditions to public R&D funding, as well as to the use of WHO PABS materials. While the exact terms of each contract may need to be negotiated depending on the context, the Pandemic Agreement can establish clear principles to be adhered to as part of a consistent, global, and transparent approach. These principles should extend to required licensing and technology transfer activities to support the development of distributed manufacturing networks that are willing and able to meet the pandemic-related product needs of all populations in a timely manner.
The success of this approach will rely on sufficient funding and other incentives to support continued engagement and sustainable business models for both public and private organizations, underpinned by accountability mechanisms to ensure that all parties meet their obligations.
Full commentary: https://ghiaa.org/mapguide-home/mapguide-commentaries/comments-on-the-negotiating-text-of-the-pandemic-agreement/
Authors:?Bridie Telford
First Publication Date: October 24, 2023
Professor at LSE Department of International Development
1 年I remain somewhat sceptical that tech transfer and know-how sharing can be made mandatory, or more specifically that doing so would be effective, That said, I'd certainly like stronger wording about states' obligations and commitments to set targets with expectations, at least expecting treaty parties that fund research to come up with measures to try to get recipients of funding to engage in more tech transfer for global and distributed production. Thanks for keeping the discussion going GHIAA.