WHO: Global agreement on free antibody testing in poorer countries
The World Health Organization has announced a global agreement, the first of its kind, to provide free antibodies to COVID-19 in poorer countries.
A global license for serological technology to detect antibodies to COVID-19 will be granted without copyright to poor and middle-income countries under a first-of-its-kind deal to boost production, the World Health Organization said today.
The existing four tests, which test for the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 that develop after infection or a vaccine dose, could also provide the basis for decisions on the need for booster doses for protection against the disease, he said. in an announcement.
The non-exclusive licensing agreement reached with the National Research Council of Spain (Consejo Superior de Investigationes Cientificas - CSIC), a public research institute that offers technology as a global public good, is the first test license signed by its organization. United Nations Medicines Patent Pool (MPP).
"The purpose of the license is to facilitate the rapid construction and commercialization of the CSIC serological test against COVID-19," said the WHO.
"The license will be copyright-free for low- and middle-income countries and will remain in force until the expiration date of the last patent," the international body said.
The tests are simple to use and suitable even for rural environments with basic laboratory infrastructure, he added.
The general director of the WHO Tentos Antanom Gebregesos welcomed the agreement, which he hoped would inspire other manufacturers to share tools against COVID-19.
"This is the kind of open and transparent permission we need to move the needle for access during and after the pandemic," Tentros said.
"I urge the manufacturers of vaccines, drug treatments and COVID-19 diagnostic tests to follow this example and reverse the climate of pandemic and destructive global inequality brought to the fore by this pandemic."
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) welcomed the agreement, noting that, so far, the WHO had only one antibody test using quantitative immunoassay (ELISA), manufactured by Roche and can only be used with the tool of the Swiss-based pharmaceutical industry.
