PHM-Exch> URGENT REQUEST for COVID-19 Sign-On: Access to Diagnostics and Treatment for Developing and Least Developed Countries

Mon Apr 20 22:44:58 PDT 2020

Dear friends and colleagues,

Please find below an urgent sign-on letter calling on the UN Secretary
General and the WHO  to secure binding commitments from biopharmaceutical
and other manufacturers for access to affordable medical products and the
sharing of knowledge and technology needed to ramp up production of much
needed medical products.

Towards this end, the letter is calling for the operationalization of
access and benefit sharing principles of the Convention on Biological
Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol. These are binding international
instruments  supported by most UN Members and based on the principles of
fairness and equity, linking access to biological resources (e.g. Covid
samples) with fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the
utilization of such resources. For further information, pls find attached
 a short background note.

*If you would like to sign on as an organization or an individual, pls sign
on at https://forms.gle/DtWeuqSbp8vLJ2dN9
<https://forms.gle/DtWeuqSbp8vLJ2dN9> by Thursday 23rd April 2020.*

You could also send an email to sangeeta at twnetwork.org  with the full name
of the Organization and Country.

We look forward to your support.

Chee Yoke Ling & Sangeeta Shashikant

Third World Network

www.twn.my

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Mr. António Guterres

Secretary-General

United Nations

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Director General

World Health Organization

*C**OVID-19: Operationalizing Fair and Equitable Benefit Sharing*

We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to request the United
Nations (UN) working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to
operationalize fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from the sharing
of COVID-19 digital sequence information and samples as recognized by the
Convention on Biological Diversity (which has 196 Parties) and its Nagoya
Protocol (which has 123 Parties).

The CBD and its Nagoya Protocol are binding international instruments based
on the principles of fairness and equity, linking access to biological
resources with fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the
utilization of such resources. These principles are endorsed by WHO Member
States as they form the basis of WHO’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness
Framework (PIP Framework), a multilateral instrument which recognizes the
importance of sharing influenza viruses of pandemic potential on an “equal
footing” with benefit sharing, considering both “as equally important parts
of the collective action for global public health”.

We are heartened by the sharing of COVID-19 samples with reference
laboratories for rapid confirmation and analysis as well as the sharing of
digital sequence information.[1] <#m_4221095907094787999__ftn1> The first
genetic sequence data for 2019-nCoV from China was freely and rapidly
shared with the Global Initiative of Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID)[2]
<#m_4221095907094787999__ftn2>. Since then, samples and digital sequence
information continue to be shared by developing countries. Mounting
evidence that, like influenza, the CoV-2 virus is mutating as it spreads
around the world implies an ongoing need for epidemiological surveillance
to collect and sequence CoV-2 strains from around the world to ensure that
any new treatments will remain effective.

We recognize that sharing SARS-CoV-2 samples as well as sequence
information continues to be pivotal for the development of diagnostics,
therapeutics and vaccines. *But a collective global public health response
requires fair and equitable benefit sharing on an equal footing.*

WHO’s R&D Blueprint titled “A Coordinated Global Research Roadmap: 2019
Novel Coronavirus” agrees that “virus materials, clinical samples and
associated data should be rapidly shared for immediate public health
purposes *and that fair and equitable access to any medical products or
innovations that are developed using the materials must be part of such
sharing” *(“emphasis added”). The Blueprint also recognizes that “Access to
the benefits of research is critical” and that the “scale up manufacturing
of products (speed, access, cost)” is an important component of a
successful implementation of the Roadmap. It further calls on research
funding grants to “include clauses that promote timely sharing of research
data relevant to the outbreak response”.

Despite the good intentions, it remains unclear whether and how these
elements are being operationalized, with fair and equitable benefit sharing
realized.

We are very distressed over the scramble for medical supplies to curb the
COVID-19 outbreak, with developed countries, especially the United States
and European countries leveraging their influence and spending, at the
expense of the needs of developing and least developed countries around the
world.[3] <#m_4221095907094787999__ftn3>

We are extremely concerned by the lack of guarantee from biopharmaceutical,
and diagnostic companies to ensure rapid availability and affordability of
medical products (especially diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines as they
are developed and rolled out) to all in need in developing and least
developed countries, and to ensure dissemination of manufacturing
technologies to rapidly scale-up diagnosis and treatment.

The UN General Assembly Resolution A/74/L.52 calls on the UN system “under
the leadership of the Secretary-General, to work with all relevant actors
in order to mobilize a coordinated global response to the pandemic and its
adverse social, economic and financial impact on all societies”.   The
spread of COVID-19 has already disproportionately impacted high risk
populations including the elderly, the poor, the malnourished, those with
pre-existing medical conditions and migrant workers. Women across the world
are facing increased domestic violence and bearing a range of
disproportionate socio-economic impacts. Timely access to diagnostics,
medical treatments and potential vaccines for these populations require
special attention, especially in developing and least developed countries.

We urgently need the UN and WHO to take urgent steps to secure timely
availability and affordability of medical products for developing and least
developed countries. WHO’s PIP Framework sets a precedent for securing
binding commitments from manufacturers in the context of a pandemic.
However, the extensive outbreak of COVID-19 will require far more ambitious
guarantees from manufacturers.

*Therefore we urgently call on the UN and the WHO to:*

*1. Secure binding commitments from biopharmaceutical companies and other
manufacturers for the rapid supply of existing and future medical products,
especially diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines to developing and least
developed countries at an affordable price.*

*2.* *Organize open platforms for the widespread and unconditional sharing
of technology and knowledge including technical specifications, designs,
blueprints and any other know-how to scale-up local/regional manufacturing
of medical products required for COVID-19 response including diagnostics,
therapeutics and vaccines; and towards that end to secure binding
commitments from biopharmaceutical companies and other medical product
manufacturers. *

*3. Proactively coordinate and direct COVID-19 R&D by setting up an open
innovation platform for the rapid public sharing of all research outcomes,
knowledge gaps and problem solving, and towards that end secure binding
commitments from entities and individuals engaged in the R&D.*

*4. Ensure other international obligations such as intellectual property
rights do not affect or hinder efforts to curb the Covid outbreak[4
<#m_4221095907094787999__ftn4>]*

cc. Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande

President of the United Nations General Assembly

United Nations

cc. H.E *Mona Juul*

President of ECOSOC

cc. Ms. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema

Acting Executive Secretary

Convention on Biological Diversity

cc. Ms. Michelle Bachelet

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

------------------------------

[1] <#m_4221095907094787999__ftnref1>
https://us8.campaign-archive.com/?e=&u=c
35eb4938c7246655f6384192&id=ed3642c7ae#Corona

[2] <#m_4221095907094787999__ftnref2>
https://mailchi.mp/who.int/influenzawho-newsletter-feb2020

[3] <#m_4221095907094787999__ftnref3>
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/world/coronavirus-equipment-rich
poor.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=World%20News
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/world/coronavirus-equipment-rich%20poor.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=World%20News>

[4] <#m_4221095907094787999__ftnref4> Article 55, 56 read with Article 103
of the UN Charter.
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