The World Health Organization (WHO) signed an agreement with Switzerland on Monday 24 May which provides the agency with a high-security laboratory to store pathogens likely to cause pandemics, including the virus to the origin of Covid-19. This global repository will be hosted in the Biosafety Laboratory in Spiez, in the center of the country, and aims to improve the rapid and voluntary sharing of viruses and other pathogenic organisms between laboratories and partners on a global scale.
For now, most pathogens are exchanged bilaterally between countries and on an ad hoc basis, which can slow the process and deprive some countries of this vital biological material to facilitate research. Especially in times of pandemic, the rapid and transparent exchange of epidemiological and clinical data is of crucial importance.
SARS-CoV-2 first, then other pathogens
“The Covid-19 pandemic and other outbreaks and epidemics have underscored the importance of rapid sharing of pathogens to help the global scientific community assess risk and develop diagnostics, therapies and vaccines”, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement. The agreement was signed by Mr. Tedros and the Swiss Minister of Health, Alain Berset, on the occasion of the 74e World Health Assembly, held online from Geneva.
This global WHO system, called BioHub, should offer a “Reliable and transparent mechanism” aiming to facilitate “Processing, characterization, amplification and sharing of samples with Member States and partners”, according to the director general of the WHO.
In a first phase, the WHO will use the current response to Covid-19 to test the operational routes of this sharing of material by retaining strains of SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19, and its variants. Following the results of the pilot project, the BioHub system will be able to host other pathogens, and from 2022 will link WHO partners to other depots and laboratory networks.