Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to you regarding the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) System currently under negotiation at the World Health Organization (WHO) and to urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to champion an accountable, transparent, fair and equitable outcome.
Millions around the world have been impacted by the inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic. It pains me to think of all the families who lost loved ones, of those still carrying lasting health consequences, and of the livelihoods that were upended or destroyed. The highest form of honouring them is to take all measures to prevent, prepare for and respond to the next pandemic, guided by equity.
At the crux of preparing for the next public health emergency and pandemic is the urgent need to reform how pathogens and sequence information are shared, as well as how the consequent research and development outputs and revenues are shared. The current approach does not lead to an equitable distribution of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics and other benefits arising from the sharing and use of the pathogen materials and sequence information. To address the inequities experienced during health emergencies/pandemics, we must build a multilateral system grounded in accountability, transparency, equity and public health. One that ensures that the sharing of pathogen samples and genetic data is on equal footing with the sharing of the life-saving vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics and other benefits arising from the sharing and use of the materials and sequence data.
The situation during COVID-19 was unconscionable. Developing countries struggled to get timely access to affordable vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, unable to protect even their frontline healthcare workers, while wealthier industrialised nations were administering booster doses and hoarding supplies. Pharmaceutical corporations generated billions in revenue, while many people suffered due to lack of timely and affordable access. This inequity must never be repeated in any public health emergency.
It is therefore deeply troubling to learn that in the current WHO negotiations, the European Union (EU) and Norway are advocating proposals that will entrench the present indefensible status quo and enable biopiracy. This is not a legacy that the EU and Norway should be willing to leave.
I urge European and Norwegian leaders to honour those lost to COVID-19 by drawing the right lessons from the profound inequities that defined that crisis. A world that is truly better prepared for the next pandemic requires a PABS System grounded in strong and credible pillars: user identification and registration, material transfer and data access contracts, robust accountability and traceability mechanisms, a public health approach to intellectual property and predictable contractually enforceable terms and conditions governing use of pathogen materials and data including fair and equitable benefit-sharing, applicable both before and during pandemics.
A PABS system with meaningful mandatory fair and equitable benefit sharing must inter alia provide for rapid predictable access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics during outbreaks including situations of public health emergency of international concern, non-exclusive licenses to developing country manufacturers to rapidly expand supply and annual monetary contributions.
The world is watching. We are watching.
The choices you make now will determine if you are truly committed to international solidarity during global health crises and will shape the fairness and effectiveness of future pandemic responses, and I trust you will do what is right.
