Research funders must join the fight for equal access to medicines

"The ideal outcome would be for high- and low-income countries to have the same access to life-saving vaccines, drugs and other tools to combat a global health emergency, at a fair and transparent price. Although memories of the COVID-19 pandemic are fading, many people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will never forget that people died because they had to wait for scarce vaccines, while leaders of high-income nations paid large sums to ensure more than adequate supplies. LMIC negotiators have an idea for how to stop this from happening in the future. The research community should consider backing it....

As part of the treaty discussions, LMICs are asking for public funders of scientific research to require that any pandemic-related drugs, vaccines or life-saving technologies that result from those organizations’ grants be shared equitably during a global health emergency. Funders should agree to this. It would be a one-time move, with the potential to save many lives.

Funders could, for example, require grantees to openly share study results. They could also require that products arising from those studies be priced affordably. Moreover, funders could retain certain intellectual property (IP) rights to be used only when there’s a necessity to develop and distribute products equitably....

However, the latest version of the treaty text does not include such provisions...."