A global mechanism to share intellectual property (IP), know-how and technology for the production of essential medical innovations can play a key role in responding equitably and effectively to a pandemic. It can help maximize global production of and access to these products and increase self-sufficiency of low- and middle-income countries.
For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) set up the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, C-TAP has not reached its full potential as only a limited amount of research institutes and not a single private pharmaceutical company have shared their knowledge around Covid-19 technologies through this mechanism.
As outlined in this report, the lack of success of C-TAP till now has several remediable causes, such as a significant lack of funding, human resources and political support, and unwillingness of private pharmaceutical companies. To reach the full potential of global pooling of IP, knowhow and technology, the WHO and its Member States can take concrete steps. As substantiated in this report, the WHO, the EU and national governments should sufficiently fund and resource C-TAP and/or its equivalent for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response as part of the Pandemic Accord. Moreover, governments should create incentives for pharmaceutical institutes and companies to share IP, know-how and technology. Lastly, governments should attach conditions to public investments in medical innovations to ensure access for all.
Read all the findings and recommendations on the functioning of C-TAP in this qualitative analysis report. For this research, representatives of the WHO and Member States, funders of C-TAP, civil society organisations and the private pharmaceutical industry were interviewed.