Skip to content
Moojaz — موجز
Search
Menu
HomeRegionsMaghrebAfricaMiddle EastEuropeAsiaAmericasWorldSectionsPoliticsEconomySecurityHealthScienceTechnologyAIEnvironmentCultureSportsSearch
Switzerland
File

Pandemic agreement: pathogen-sharing negotiations

This dossier follows Geneva negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system, or PABS. It distinguishes adopted texts from provisions still under discussion.

Last updated : 1 key moments
WHO headquarters in Geneva in May 2007.
Archive from 21 May 2007; does not show the negotiating session. © Yann Forget / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0; resized. — © Yann Forget / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ — 21 mai 2007, redimensionnement.

Where things stand

The ninth negotiating session opened in Geneva on 2 November 2026. Tedros called for completion of the PABS annex; the pharmaceutical industry raised concerns over some participation requirements.

Reported information

WHO urges Geneva negotiators to complete pathogen-sharing annex

At the opening of the ninth negotiating session in Geneva on 2 November 2026, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged states to complete the pandemic agreement’s PABS annex. His address announced no final compromise.

WHO headquarters in Geneva in May 2007.
Archive from 21 May 2007; does not show the negotiating session. © Yann Forget / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0; resized. — © Yann Forget / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ — 21 mai 2007, redimensionnement.

The system is intended to connect access to pathogens with sharing the benefits derived from their use. Tedros presents the annex as essential to making the agreement adopted in 2025 operational and avoiding unequal access to health tools.

In a separate statement dated the same day, pharmaceutical federation IFPMA argues that some proposed requirements for laboratories and databases could discourage participation. This reservation is the industry’s position; it does not establish the actual effects of rules still under negotiation.

Sources 3