Strategies to facilitate sharing of technology and knowledge through WHO COVID-19 Technology Access Pool

Overview

The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), originally proposed by Costa Rica, is a multi-partner initiative established in May 2020 to accelerate the development, manufacture and global distribution of products to diagnose, prevent and treat COVID-19. Sharing of information, knowledge, data and other resources greatly accelerates product development and avoids duplication of efforts. The C-TAP platform facilitates such sharing for the development of products for public health. 

At the time of writing, two technology holders, public institutions in Spain and the USA, had entered into licensing agreements with the C-TAP for inventions and candidate products, including vaccines. The C-TAP could be expanded if other technology holders made similar contributions. To promote further engagement of technology holders with the C-TAP, the WHO secretariat administered a questionnaire for Member States to identify legislation, regulations, guidelines and procedures that could be amended or introduced to encourage sharing of technology. Thirty-eight Member States submitted responses to the C-TAP questionnaire. The purpose of this report is to summarize the responses made to the C-TAP questionnaire, in order to highlight the legislation, regulations, guidelines and procedures that Member States could amend or introduce to encourage further engagement of technology holders. This report also provides an analysis based on a review of publicly available information on possible measures that may be implemented to encourage the participation of technology holders in the C-TAP. The discussion contained in this document is intended to inform all actors involved in the process of introducing or amending legislations, regulations, guidelines, and procedures to encourage C-TAP participation.