Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Reboot biomedical R&D in the global public interest

Inequitable access to the fruits of research during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgency — and feasibility — of overhauling the R&D system.
  1. Soumya Swaminathan

    1. Soumya Swaminathan is chief scientist at the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Bernard Pécoul

    1. Bernard Pécoul is executive director at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, Geneva, Switzerland.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Hisham Abdullah

    1. Hisham Abdullah is director-general of the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  4. Christos Christou

    1. Christos Christou is international president of Médecins Sans Frontières, Geneva, Switzerland.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  5. Glenda Gray

    1. Glenda Gray is president and chief executive of the Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  6. Carel IJsselmuiden

    1. Carel IJsselmuiden is executive director of the Council on Health Research for Development, Geneva, Switzerland, and professor in the School of Applied Human Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  7. Marie Paule Kieny

    1. Marie Paule Kieny is director of research, INSERM, Paris, France.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  8. Mariana Mazzucato

    1. Mariana Mazzucato is professor in the economics of innovation and public value at University College London (UCL), and founder of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  9. Veronika von Messling

    1. Veronika von Messling is director-general of the Life Sciences Division, Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Bonn, Germany.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  10. Bernhards Ogutu

    1. Bernhards Ogutu is chief research officer at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  11. John Reeder

    1. John Reeder is director of TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization; and director of the Research for Health Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  12. John-Arne Røttingen

    1. John-Arne Røttingen is ambassador for global health at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo, Norway.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  13. Renu Swarup

    1. Renu Swarup is former secretary of the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  14. Marcel Tanner

    1. Marcel Tanner is president of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, Bern; and professor at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  15. Nísia Trindade Lima

    1. Nísia Trindade Lima is president of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  16. Michelle Childs

    1. Michelle Childs is director of policy advocacy at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, Geneva, Switzerland.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  17. Alex Harris

    1. Alex Harris is associate director for Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships at Wellcome, London, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  18. Els Torreele

    1. Els Torreele is a policy associate at University College London, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  19. Suerie Moon

    1. Suerie Moon is co-director of the Global Health Centre and professor of practice, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Employees work inside a laboratory at a pharmaceutical plant in India producing generic medicines to treat HIV

Workers in south India make low-cost, generic HIV drugs that will expand access to therapies. Credit: Sara Hylton/Bloomberg/Getty

COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines are powerful reminders: health technologies can help to shape the way in which societies control disease. Challenges in ensuring global, equitable access to these fruits of biomedical research and development (R&D) during the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the urgency of reorienting the system towards the public interest. The first step is a clearer articulation of what R&D in the global public interest is. That is what we seek to do here.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 602, 207-210 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00324-y

The views expressed in this article by WHO employees S.S. and J.R. are personal and do not necessarily represent the views, decisions or policies of the World Health Organization.

Updates & Corrections

  • Update 10 February 2022: The author details for Carel Ijsselmuiden have been updated to include a second affiliation.

References

  1. Pedrique, B. et al. Lancet Glob. Health 1, E371–E379 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bachurin, S. O., Bovina, E. V. & Ustyugov, A. A. Med. Res. Rev. 37, 1186–1225 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Morgan, S. G., Bathula, H. S. & Moon, S. BMJ 368, L4627 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Gross, D. & Sampat, B. Crisis Innovation Policy from World War II to COVID-19. NBER Working Paper 28915 (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Mazzucato, M. Mission-Oriented Research & Innovation in the European Union (European Commission, 2018).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Montorzi, G., De Haan, S. & IJsselmuiden, C. Priority Setting for Research for Health: A Management Process for Countries (Council on Health Research for Development, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative. 15 Years of Needs-Driven Innovation for Access (DNDi, 2019).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Beyeler, N., Fewer, S., Yotebieng, M. & Yamey, G. BMJ Glob. Health 4, e001209 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Gadelha, P., Lima, N. T., Rangel, V. F. & Stabeli, R. Policy Focus 13, 23–26 (2016).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Silva, L., Albuquerque, M. & Mayrink, M. F. Saúde em Debate 45, 861–870 (2021; in Portuguese).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. da Silva, R. E., Amato, A. A., Guilhem, D. B. & Novaes, M. R. C. G. Int. J. Clin. Trials 3, 1–8 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Coleman, C. H. et al. Dev. World Bioeth. 15, 241–247 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. DeVito, N. J., Bacon, S. & Goldacre, B. Lancet 395, 361–369 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Moorthy, V. S., Karam, G., Vannice, K. S. & Kieny, M. P. PLoS Med. 12, e1001819 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Doshi, P. BMJ 371, m4058 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Burki, T. K. Lancet Respir. Med. 8, 1178–1180 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Swaminathan, S. Nature 588, 583–585 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Munos, B. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 87, 534–536 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Mazzoleni, R. & Nelson, R. R. J. Econ. Issues 32, 1031–1052 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All. Governing Health Innovation for the Common Good (World Health Organization, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  21. Lazonick, W. & Mazzucato, M. Ind. Corp. Change 22, 1093–1128 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Ramachandran, R., Ross, J. S. & Miller, J. E. JAMA Netw. Open 4, e2134233 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Fidler, D. P. & Gostin, L. O. JAMA 306, 200–201 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. World Health Organization. Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework: 18-month Progress Report, 1 January 2020–30 June 2021 (WHO, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Shu, Y. & McCauley, J. Euro Surveill. 22, 30494 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. von Delft, F. et al. Nature 594, 330–332 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Chu, K. M., Jayaraman, S., Kyamanywa, P. & Ntakiyiruta, G. PLoS Med. 11, e1001612 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Cochrane, G. et al. The African Institutions Initiative: Insights from the First Four Years (RAND Corporation, 2014).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Kosaka, M., Hashimoto, T., Ozaki, A., Tanimoto, T. & Kami, M. Lancet 397, 2334–2335 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Simpson, S., Chakrabarti, A., Robinson, D., Chirgwin, K. & Lumpkin, M. npj Vaccines 5, 101 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Wieseler, B., McGauran, N. & Kaiser, T. BMJ 366, L4340 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Oortwijn, W., Broos, P., Vondeling, H., Banta, D. & Todorova, L. Int. J. Technol. Assess. Health Care 29, 424–434 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Panteli, D. et al. Health Syst. Transit. 18, 1–122 (2016).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Muñoz, V., Visentin, F., Foray, D. & Gaulé, P. Sci. Public Policy 42, 315–338 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Lurie, N., Saville, M., Hatchett, R. & Halton, J. N. Engl. J. Med. 382, 1969–1973 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Moran, M., Guzman, J., McDonald, A., Wu, L. & Omune, B. Registering New Drugs: The African Context (George Inst. for International Health, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  37. Keohane, R. O. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy (Princeton Univ. Press, 1984).

    Google Scholar 

  38. WHO Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development. Financing and Coordination. Research and Development to Meet Health Needs in Developing Countries: Strengthening Global Financing and Coordination (World Health Organization, 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Moon, S., Alonso Ruiz, A. & Vieira, M. N. Engl. J. Med. 385, 193–196 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Supplementary Information

  1. Acknowledgements

Competing Interests

H.A., C.C., B.O. and S.M. are members of the Board of Directors, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, of which M.P.K. is the Board chair. E.T. is a member of Médecins Sans Frontières, and Board member of Agora Open Science Trust. M.P.K. is Board chair of the Medicines Patent Pool. S.M.’s family member is employed by the Medicines Patent Pool.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Technician - Senior Technician in Cell and Molecular Biology

    APPLICATION CLOSING DATE: 24.05.2024 Human Technopole (HT) is a distinguished life science research institute founded and supported by the Italian ...

    Milan (IT)

    Human Technopole

  • Postdoctoral Fellow

    The Dubal Laboratory of Neuroscience and Aging at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) seeks postdoctoral fellows to investigate the ...

    San Francisco, California

    University of California, San Francsico

  • Postdoctoral Associate

    Houston, Texas (US)

    Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow

    Description Applications are invited for a postdoctoral fellow position at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health, to participate...

    Toronto (City), Ontario (CA)

    Sinai Health

  • Postdoctoral Research Associate - Surgery

    Memphis, Tennessee

    St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (St. Jude)

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links