ACCELERATING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Science can provide the weapons to combat infectious disease. But there are many gaps in our armory, as Ebola and other outbreaks have shown, ranging from vaccine development and capacity, diagnostic tools, therapeutics, and protective equipment to anthropological research. Relying on the disparate efforts of the research-and-development community — academia, government, industry, and civil society — has not worked. The coordination mechanisms and commercial incentives are too weak. Moreover, the processes for product development and approval are too slow, complex, and costly to enable sufficiently swift scientific responses to a serious outbreak.
To rectify these deficiencies, our report offers three recommendations. The first is the creation of a new Pandemic Product Development Committee to prioritize, coordinate, and oversee research and development in this arena; this committee should be held accountable by the technical board described above. The chair of the committee should be appointed by the WHO’s director-general with the rest of its membership consisting of international technical experts. The committee would operate independently of the WHO, making decisions on the basis of members’ advice. This proposal builds on the work the WHO has already initiated to identify priority pathogens.