Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, May 09, 2025

A new pandemic playbook: Draft treaty sets out far-reaching new rules for countries

A new pandemic playbook: Draft treaty sets out far-reaching new rules for countries

Countries would need to make significant commitments to ensure equitable access to medical products.

The coronavirus pandemic isn't yet over but countries are already hashing out a new set of rules to respond to the next one.

The draft pandemic treaty that's being negotiated by diplomats in Geneva would require countries to make significant promises to ensure equitable access to pandemic products — commitments that are likely to receive pushback from Big Pharma.

A draft text, obtained by POLITICO, lays the groundwork for discussions that are expected to stretch until May 2024 when the final agreement will be adopted.

Countries have admitted they were not prepared for COVID-19 — which has infected more than 600 million people and claimed an estimated 6.6 million lives — with the crisis characterized by unequal access to vaccines, hoarding of medical supplies, a lack of transparency on procurement deals, and a lack of geographic diversity in the manufacturing of these products.

In its current form, the draft treaty would tie countries into significant commitments to improve access. A key aim? Preventing the “gross inequities that hindered timely access to medical and other COVID-19 pandemic response products” from happening again.

First proposed by European Council President Charles Michel in 2020, the idea was eventually taken up by countries at the World Health Organization. While the final agreement may not take the form of a treaty, the body negotiating the text has already agreed that it should be legally binding.

If agreed by the WHO's members, the consequences would be enormous not only for the countries themselves but for the pharmaceutical companies that develop, manufacture and distribute pandemic countermeasures. In its current form, the text ties countries into commitments that, if implemented, would shake up the conditions around the granting of money for research; would include commitments around the disclosure of prices and contractual terms for pandemic products; and put in place mechanisms to transfer technology and know-how.


Focus on transparency


Among the many provisions in the draft, the draft agreement states that countries should develop mechanisms that “promote and provide relevant transfer of technology and know-how” to potential manufacturers in all regions, with a focus on developing countries.

It also calls for measures that would encourage the sharing of resources for research and development, as well as the development of a set of principles “that ensure that public financing of research and development for pandemic response products results in more equitable access and affordability.” Importantly this would include “conditions on distributed manufacturing, licensing, technology transfer and pricing policies.”

The draft treaty also focuses on the need to establish stockpiles for pandemic products, suggesting the use of pooled mechanisms that are based on public need, with efficient multilateral and regional purchasing mechanisms being used.

Indemnity and confidentiality clauses that plagued decisions around COVID-19 vaccines are also targeted, with a call to implement measures to limit these clauses. The text seeks to ensure that “promoters of research for pandemic response products assume part of the risk (liability) when the products or supplies are in the research phase, and that making access to such pandemic response products.”

The draft treaty also calls for the disclosure of information on public funding for research and development that would include “recommendations to make it compulsory for companies that produce pandemic response products to disclose prices and contractual terms for public procurement in times of pandemics.” In many countries, information on the contractual provisions have remained closely guarded secrets, with transparency campaigners battling to access this information.

There is one provision in the text that will be a double-edged sword for the pharma industry — a call for "rapid, regular and timely" sharing of data on pathogens and genetic sequences. That request comes with the proviso that there is fair and equitable access to the benefits of providing this data. This would be supported by a "comprehensive system for access and benefit sharing."

Industry has called for the prompt sharing of information on potentially dangerous pathogens and has warned against these being used as "bargaining chips" by countries, expressing fear that drawn-out negotiations around the conditions for sharing the data would hamper its ability to respond.


Intellectual property


During the pandemic, Big Pharma has also extensively lobbied against any efforts that would seek to water down its intellectual property rights, even using threats of disinvestment to get its message across. While much has already been hashed out in the draft, issues around intellectual property rights have yet to be resolved.

Multiple proposals are listed in the document that ranges from the more neutral where countries would recognize that the “that protection of intellectual property rights is important for the development of new medical products, but also recognizing concerns about its effects on prices.”

On the more controversial end, one proposal calls on countries to recognize “the concerns that intellectual property on life-saving medical technologies continue to pose threat and barriers to the full realization of the right to health and to scientific progress for all, particularly the effect on prices.”

When it comes to enforcing the treaty, the path forward is unclear. The text states that the governing body will decide at its first meeting the procedures to promote compliance with the text and “if deemed appropriate, to address cases of non-compliance.” The measures would include monitoring, accountability measures and the submission of reports or reviews.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
Depression, Fear of Defamation, and a Tragic End: New Details on Virginia Giuffre’s Suicide
“Sharia for UK, Allah Akbar!”
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Incident Reflection: A Harsh Reality Check
Pakistani migrants to Danish man: “ “We have 5 children while you have 1 or 2. In 10 years, there will be more Pakistanis than Danes here.“
Clashes Erupt in London as Tensions Rise Between Indian and Pakistani Communities
Specialized anti-drone weapons deployed among security personnel Ahead of Papal Funeral
How do you fix this culture?
×