The biopharmaceutical industry welcomes the publication of the 100 Days Mission – First Implementation Report released on 2 December, which maps out key actions needed from all stakeholders to build global pandemic preparedness. As one of the implementation partners, we welcome the strong sense of public-private work involved to achieve this shared ambition is important and will be critical to future success.
The industry has played a full and integral role in tackling COVID-19 and we are committed to working with all partners – including the German G7 Presidency – to ensure the world is better prepared against future pandemics.
Following the World Health Assembly’s decision this week to launch a process to seek a global agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and we also support working with governments, international organizations and other stakeholders to make sure that policies and plans are developed in a way that achieves the effective response the world requires to tackle any future pandemic.
The 100 Day Mission roadmap indicates that it is well underway towards completion. It should provide useful insights for the global pandemic preparedness process that will be negotiated over the coming years. Both processes should recognise that emerging pathogens must be shared on or before Day 0 of future pandemics, and that any delays due to conditions applied to such sharing must be avoided if we are to achieve the 100 days objectives.
As a global community, we applaud the speed with which scientists are currently sharing pathogens. Their efforts should not be restricted by unclear legislation or unnecessary paperwork.
From the very beginning of the pandemic the biopharmaceutical industry has worked in global partnerships with governments, health systems and across industry to deliver safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
We must now build on the successes of COVID-19, exploring new public-private partnerships to accelerate vaccine and drug discovery for priority pathogens and prepare for new pathogens.
COVID-19 has clearly demonstrated the importance of investment into R&D against future pathogens and COVID variants. These investments from across the R&D ecosystem – including large biopharmaceutical companies, small biotechs and academic researchers – is completely dependent on strong protection of intellectual property.