Next Phase of Pandemic Talks Resumes, Tackling Tricky Issue of Sharing Pathogen Information
Pandemic Agreement 08/07/2025 •
A researcher collects information on pathogens during a disease outbreak. How such information is shared in a fair and equitable way is the next phase of the pandemic agreement talks.

The next – and tricky – phase of cementing the World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement resumes on Wednesday (9 July) with the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG).

The IGWG’s main task is to negotiate an annex to the pandemic agreement on a pathogen access and benefit sharing (PABS) system. This system will set out how information about pathogens with pandemic potential is shared in a safe, transparent and accountable manner, and how those who share information will benefit from products that are developed as a result.

It is a hot potato given tensions between intellectual property rights for pharmaceutical companies and wide access to affordable medical products.

In addition, the IGWG will prepare the ground for the Conference of the Parties that will govern the pandemic agreement, and the terms of reference for a coordinating financial mechanism, which will help defend countries against outbreaks and pandemics.

According to WHO legal officer Steven Solomon, the PABS annex has to be completed by 17 April 2026 to meet the deadline of submission to the World Health Assembly in May 2026.

This means that the IGWG has merely nine months and eight days to complete its work to meet the deadline.

This week’s meeting will be dedicated to electing the office-bearers, setting out timelines and modalities for engagement with relevant stakeholders.

The first item on the IGWG agenda is the election of two co-chairs and four vice-chairs – one for each of the six WHO regions. As with the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) that ran the pandemic agreement talks, the co-chairs are to reflect developing and developed countries.

IGWG co-chair contender, the UK’s Dr Mathew Harpur.
IGWG co-chair contender, Brazil’s Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes

Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes, Brazil’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, and Dr Mathew Harpur, Deputy Director for Multilateral and G7/G20 Engagement for the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, are strong contenders for co-chairs, according to sources.

The INB co-chairs, France’s Ambassador Anne-Claire Amprou and South Africa’s Precious Matsoso, are passing the baton to new leaders, although the pandemic agreement that they oversaw contains the outline of the PABS system.

Addressing a recent meeting in Geneva, Amprou said that preparatory work for the implementation of the pandemic agreement should start as soon as possible, in parallel with negotiations on the annex.

Amprou added that she though that the annex should be a short document and that “this negotiation should be much more technical than political [as] we know the political positions of different member states”.

As with INB meetings, open sessions of the IGWG will be webcast and stake-holders in official relations with the WHO will be permitted to attend and contribute at certain times.

Image Credits: Wildlife Conservation Society .

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