The World Health Organization (WHO) Pandemic Agreement, adopted in May 2025, leaves the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system to a technical annex. That annex is still under negotiation: the seventh session closed on 17 July 2026 and the eighth was convened from 14 to 18 September 2026 in Geneva.
The Pandemic Agreement and the mandate of the intergovernmental working group
In May 2025 the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement, an international instrument designed to strengthen cooperation in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Through resolution WHA78.1, Member States also established an open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG), tasked with the work connected to the implementation of the Agreement and, in particular, with drafting and negotiating the annex governing the PABS system.
The annex is not an accessory document. WHO describes it as a central component of the Agreement and as a step needed before States can consider signature and ratification of the text adopted in 2025. Until the annex is finalized, the overall architecture of the Agreement remains operationally incomplete.
What the PABS system covers
The PABS system, provided for in Article 12 of the Agreement, pursues two connected aims. The first is the rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and of the related genetic sequence information, so that laboratories and research centres can begin characterising the agent and developing countermeasures without delay. The second is the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from that use, namely vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
On the benefits side, Article 12 provides that participating manufacturers make available to WHO a share of real-time production equal to 20 per cent: half as a donation and half at affordable prices, with distribution based on public health need. The mechanism responds to the asymmetry observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the availability of products did not follow the geographical distribution of risk.
The technical issues raised at the seventh session
The seventh IGWG session took place in Geneva from 6 to 17 July 2026. According to the WHO news release of 20 July 2026, Member States streamlined the draft text and continued consultations on the more complex elements, reaffirming their commitment to a system enabling rapid pathogen sharing and an equitable distribution of benefits.
Discussions focused on three interrelated elements: the contractual arrangements underpinning the framework, that is the legal instruments binding participating entities; the structure of the laboratory networks responsible for sharing and handling pathogens with pandemic potential and their sequence information; and the definition of the benefits arising from pathogen sharing. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that differences between State positions remain. IGWG Bureau Co-Chair Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes (Brazil) indicated that the remaining issues are challenging but that a clear path exists to complete the work; Co-Chair Matthew Harpur described the outcome as progress towards an effective and equitable system.
The timetable for the next steps
The eighth IGWG session was convened from 14 to 18 September 2026 in hybrid format, with morning and afternoon sittings and web broadcasting of the opening and closing sessions. The outcome of the negotiation on the PABS annex is intended for consideration by the World Health Assembly: the Eightieth Assembly is scheduled for May 2027, without prejudice to the possibility of a special session of the Assembly in 2026.
Finalizing the annex then opens the signature and ratification phase. The Agreement enters into force on the thirtieth day following the deposit of the sixtieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval, formal confirmation or accession. The sequence therefore has several stages, of which the 2025 adoption is only the first.
Outlook
The September 2026 session was dedicated to the elements left open in July, in particular the form of the contractual arrangements and the scope of the benefits. It is not settled when the annex will be submitted to the Assembly, nor whether this will take place at a special session in 2026 or at the ordinary Assembly in May 2027. Also still to be specified are the operating arrangements of the laboratory networks and the treatment of genetic sequence information, which is the point of contact between the sharing regime and intellectual property and data governance systems. Negotiating documents and the session calendar are published by WHO on the pages dedicated to the IGWG.
In dialogue with the 2030 Agenda
Goal 3. Good Health and Well-being: the PABS system is designed to shorten the time between the identification of a pathogen with pandemic potential and the availability of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics.
Goal 9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: the laboratory network provided for in the annex constitutes shared research infrastructure for characterising pathogens and their sequences.
Goal 10. Reduced Inequalities: the 20 per cent share of real-time production, split between donation and supply at affordable prices, is the instrument through which the Agreement addresses the access gap that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Goal 17. Partnerships for the Goals: the negotiation takes place in an open-ended intergovernmental working group, with a bureau co-chaired by representatives of States from different regions.
Sources
- World Health Organization, WHO Member States continue negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing Annex, 20 July 2026
- World Health Organization, Eighth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement, 14 to 18 September 2026
- World Health Organization, Intergovernmental Working Group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement
- World Health Organization, WHO Pandemic Agreement
- World Health Organization, WHO Member States agree to extend negotiations on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex, 1 May 2026
