WHO Member States Begin Negotiations on Pandemic Agreement’s Pathogen Sharing System

The negotiations took place during the Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG), held from 3–7 November 2025 in Geneva.

In a landmark development for global health governance, World Health Organization (WHO) Member States have begun negotiating the first draft of the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system, a key annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement adopted earlier in 2025. The discussions mark a crucial step toward ensuring that the world is better prepared for future pandemics through mechanisms that guarantee equitable access to health technologies and fair sharing of scientific benefits.

A Milestone in Pandemic Preparedness

The negotiations took place during the Third Meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG), held from 3–7 November 2025 in Geneva. The IGWG, established by the World Health Assembly, is tasked with drafting and finalizing the PABS annex—a vital element of the Pandemic Agreement that operationalizes commitments to equity, transparency, and solidarity in responding to global health threats.

“I thank Member States for their vital efforts to negotiate the first draft of the PABS annex and commend them on the progress made in finding shared positions and solutions to the shared risks and challenges posed by future pandemics,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Solidarity is our best immunity. Finalizing the Pandemic Agreement, through a commitment to multilateral action, is our collective promise to protect humanity.”

What the PABS System Aims to Achieve

The PABS system will serve as the cornerstone of the new pandemic preparedness framework, ensuring that when a pathogen with pandemic potential emerges, countries can rapidly share biological materials and genetic sequence data. This will enable scientists around the world to develop diagnostic tests, treatments, and vaccines in real time.

Crucially, the system is designed to ensure that benefits arising from the use of shared materials—such as medical countermeasures, data, and technologies—are distributed fairly and equitably.

Under the proposed draft annex, the PABS system will:

• Establish mechanisms for the timely sharing of pathogen samples and sequence information;

• Guarantee equal access to life-saving tools during global health emergencies;

• Define clear procedures for benefit-sharing, including financial support, technology transfer, and access to medical countermeasures; and

• Promote transparency, trust, and accountability among participating nations and research institutions.

These measures reflect the operationalization of Article 12 of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, which emphasizes equitable access to health products and technologies during pandemics.

Building Consensus Through Diplomacy

Negotiations in Geneva brought together delegates from all WHO Member States, alongside observers from civil society, academia, and the private sector. Participants discussed the structure, governance, and financing of the PABS mechanism, seeking to balance public health needs with sovereign rights over biological materials.

“Difficult decisions on making the world safer from the threat of future pandemics require difficult conversations,” said Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes of Brazil, co-chair of the IGWG Bureau. “By considering complex issues head-on, these negotiations are ensuring that future pandemic responses will be fair, timely, and grounded in solidarity.”

Mr. Matthew Harpur of the United Kingdom, co-chair of the IGWG Bureau, echoed these sentiments, praising the constructive engagement of delegations:

“Countries across the world this week again showed their commitment to ensuring we are collectively better protected from future pandemics by engaging openly and making progress in these negotiations. We look forward to further discussions in December.”

Equity, Trust, and Global Solidarity

The PABS system represents one of the most ambitious efforts in decades to balance scientific openness with equitable benefit-sharing. Historically, disputes over pathogen sharing—such as during the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in the 2000s—revealed deep inequities between countries that provide samples and those that develop and profit from resulting medical products.

The new system aims to bridge that gap by embedding equity and reciprocity into global health cooperation. Under the proposed framework, developing countries that share pathogen data would be assured access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics produced using that data, avoiding the vaccine hoarding and supply chain inequities witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Engaging Stakeholders for Transparency and Inclusivity

Throughout the week-long session, Member States also met with civil society, academic experts, and private-sector representatives to gather perspectives on implementation and governance of the PABS annex. These engagements are seen as essential to building a transparent and inclusive mechanism that enjoys global legitimacy.

The WHO emphasized that these discussions demonstrate a shared understanding that global health security cannot be achieved by any single country acting alone. Instead, it requires collective responsibility and mutual accountability.

Looking Ahead: Toward Adoption in 2026

The IGWG will reconvene in December 2025 to continue negotiations, refining the draft annex text and addressing unresolved technical and legal questions. The finalized document is expected to be submitted to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (WHA79) in May 2026 for adoption.

Once adopted, Member States will begin the process of ratifying and approving the WHO Pandemic Agreement through their national parliaments, formally enshrining the commitments into international law.

A Turning Point for Global Health Governance

Experts view the PABS annex as a historic innovation in global health diplomacy, akin to the establishment of the International Health Regulations (IHR) in 2005. Together, the PABS system and the Pandemic Agreement will shape how the world prepares for and responds to future health emergencies.

By creating a framework rooted in equity, transparency, and solidarity, the initiative seeks to prevent a repeat of past failures—where lifesaving medical products were concentrated in a few countries while others were left behind.

As Dr. Tedros concluded, “Our collective safety depends on shared science, shared responsibility, and shared benefits. The PABS system is not just a mechanism—it’s a moral commitment to ensuring that no country is left behind in the next pandemic.”