Viral Sovereignty and Technology Transfer: The Changing Global System for Sharing Pathogens for Public Health Research

Description

In the global infectious-disease research community, there has long been uncertainty about the conditions under which biological resources may be studied or transferred out of countries. This work examines the reasons for that uncertainty and shows how global biomedical research has been shaped by international disputes over access to biological resources. Bringing together government leaders, World Health Organization officials, and experts in virology, wildlife biology, clinical ethics, technology transfer, and international law, the book identifies the critical problems - and implications of these problems - posed by negotiating for access and sharing benefits, and proposes solutions to ensure that biomedical advances are not threatened by global politics. Written in accessible, non-technical language, this work should be read by anyone who sees global health and biomedical research as a priority for international lawmakers.

Sam Halabi is the Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law at the University of Missouri. He is also a Scholar at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and affiliated faculty at the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. His previous books include Global Management of Infectious Disease after Ebola, Intellectual Property and the New International Economic Order, and Food and Drug Regulation in an Era of Globalized Markets. He is also the co-chair (with Gian Luca Burci) of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications Committee of the Global Virome Project. Professor Halabi was the 1999 First Place Prize recipient of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Essay in Ethics prize. Dr. Rebecca Katz is a Professor and Director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. Prior to coming to Georgetown, she spent ten years at The George Washington University as faculty in the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Her research is focused on global health security, public health preparedness and health diplomacy. Since 2007, much of her work has been on the domestic and global implementation of the International Health Regulations. From 2004-2019, Dr. Katz was also a consultant to the Department of State, working on issues related to the Biological Weapons Convention, pandemic influenza and disease surveillance.

'Viral Sovereignty and Technology Transfer is a comprehensive and essential volume analyzing how the sharing of pathogens and associated data has dramatically changed in the last 25 years. The contributors are global leaders in diplomacy, epidemiology, ethics, law, medicine, public health, security studies, technology transfer, and veterinary medicine. This robust interdisciplinary group identify where the risks to global public health are greatest as sharing becomes slower and more fraught with proprietary claims, and what solutions show the most promise to ensure the world is prepared for infectious disease and other health emergencies. Viral sovereignty may seem like a technical problem, but it has enormous consequences for global preparedness. This book should be read not only by experts in the management of health threats, but also by every person who is concerned about the future of global health security.' Lawrence O. Gostin, World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National & Global Health Law