What Happened
- India has aligned with a coalition of approximately 100 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) at WHO pandemic agreement negotiations, demanding that developing countries that share pathogen materials and genetic sequence data receive fair, concrete, and legally enforceable benefits in return
- The negotiation concerns the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system — a proposed annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement adopted in May 2025 that remains unfinished
- India's position: benefit-sharing must be mandatory (not voluntary) and must include guaranteed access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics (VTDs) proportionate to the genomic data and pathogen samples contributed
- Only 12 negotiating days remain before the May 2026 deadline for completing the PABS annex, with significant gaps persisting between developed and developing nations
- The core tension: wealthy nations (and their pharmaceutical industries) prefer voluntary and commercial benefit-sharing arrangements, while LMICs insist on mandatory, legally binding commitments proportionate to their contribution of pathogen data
Static Topic Bridges
The Nagoya Protocol and Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) in Biodiversity
The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992), adopted in 2010 in Nagoya, Japan, and entered into force in 2014. It establishes a framework for fair benefit-sharing when genetic resources (including biological samples) are accessed and utilised commercially or scientifically. The PABS system in the WHO Pandemic Agreement draws heavily on the Nagoya Protocol's architecture, applying analogous principles to pathogen samples and genetic sequence data shared during pandemic preparedness.
- Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): adopted 1992 at Rio Earth Summit; India ratified in 1994
- Nagoya Protocol: adopted October 2010; entered into force October 2014; 138 parties
- India's Biological Diversity Act 2002: domestic implementation of CBD/Nagoya principles; National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) established under it
- India has maintained that genomic sequence data (digital sequence information, DSI) must be covered under benefit-sharing — a position now reflected in the PABS debate
- Multilateral System (MLS): an existing system under FAO's Plant Treaty for agricultural genetic resources that provides a model for multi-country pooled access with equitable benefit sharing
Connection to this news: India's position in the PABS negotiations is consistent with its broader historical stand in the CBD/Nagoya framework — that source countries providing biological materials deserve enforceable economic returns, especially when those materials generate multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical revenues.
COVID-19 Lessons and the PABS System Design
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed a fundamental inequity: countries in the Global South (particularly China, Iran, and others) that rapidly shared genetic sequence data of SARS-CoV-2 received no guaranteed access to vaccines derived from those sequences. In contrast, wealthy nations with manufacturing capacity and advance purchase agreements secured vaccine supplies within months, while LMICs waited over a year. The C-TAP (COVID-19 Technology Access Pool), COVAX (co-funded by Gavi and CEPI), and the WHO's Solidarity Trial were all limited by voluntary participation and insufficient financial commitments. The WHO Pandemic Agreement's PABS system is designed to institutionalise enforceable benefit-sharing to prevent a recurrence.
- SARS-CoV-2 genome: shared by China on January 11, 2020 — the data that enabled vaccine development within 11 months
- COVAX: delivered approximately 2 billion doses globally; but high-income countries received vaccines 9–12 months earlier than LMICs
- WHO pandemic agreement adopted: May 20, 2025 (World Health Assembly); PABS annex negotiations continued separately
- Proposed PABS commitments: manufacturers using shared pathogen data to provide 20% of production to WHO; at least 10% donated
- Countries most crucial for pathogen sharing: Indonesia (H5N1 avian influenza), India, Bangladesh, Congo (Ebola), China — predominantly LMICs with high zoonotic spillover risk
Connection to this news: India is explicitly invoking the COVID-19 inequity experience to argue for mandatory rather than voluntary benefit-sharing — and its dual role as both a pathogen-contributing country and as the "pharmacy of the Global South" gives it unique credibility in this debate.
India as the "Pharmacy of the Global South"
India's generic pharmaceutical industry is the world's largest by volume of medicines produced, and India supplies approximately 60% of all vaccines used globally by the UN system. Indian companies (Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, Biological E) were central to global COVID-19 vaccine production. This dual identity — a country that both contributes biological materials to global surveillance networks and manufactures vaccines at scale — gives India a unique negotiating position: it is simultaneously a demandeur (seeking benefits) and a supplier (providing therapeutic access). India's stand is also shaped by the political context of its domestic pharmaceutical IP regime and its opposition to TRIPS-plus provisions.
- India's share of UN-purchased medicines: approximately 60% by volume
- Serum Institute of India: world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume
- India's COVID-19 vaccine contributions: 250 million doses donated under Vaccine Maitri (early 2021); programme later paused due to domestic demand surge
- India's WTO position: co-sponsor of TRIPS waiver for COVID vaccines (with South Africa); waiver adopted May 2022 in limited form
- TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights): WTO agreement setting minimum IP standards; flexibilities under Article 31 (compulsory licensing) allow developing countries to produce generic medicines
Connection to this news: India's pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity means that PABS benefit-sharing mechanisms could translate into concrete technology transfer and licensing obligations for Indian firms that use WHO-shared pathogen data — a both beneficial and potentially burdensome dimension of the agreement India must navigate.
Key Facts & Data
- WHO Pandemic Agreement adopted: May 20, 2025 (World Health Assembly)
- PABS annex deadline: May 2026 (12 negotiating days remaining as of early March 2026)
- Proposed PABS manufacturer commitment: 20% of real-time production to WHO; at least 10% donated
- Coalition of LMICs supporting mandatory PABS: approximately 100 countries
- India's share of UN medicine supply: approximately 60% by volume
- Nagoya Protocol: adopted 2010, entered into force 2014
- COVAX doses delivered globally: approximately 2 billion
- India's Vaccine Maitri donations (early 2021): approximately 250 million doses