The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) has been replaced by the Health Technology Access Pool (HTAP), according to the World Health Organization (WHO)
WHO, the Costa Rican government, and other partners introduced C-TAP in May 2020 to help people worldwide have fair and inexpensive access to COVID-19 health goods. The platform gave technology partners a much-needed venue for freely exchanging data, expertise, and intellectual property in order to boost technical advancement and increase accessibility to COVID-19 tools.
Notwithstanding the difficulties in developing a new mechanism in the midst of a pandemic with constrained funding, C-TAP was able to obtain six clear, non-exclusive worldwide licenses including fifteen technologies, including the first from a private company, and ranging from R&D tools to diagnostics and vaccines. Building on the groundwork established by C-TAP, HTAP makes structural, procedural, and other modifications to better attract and support a wide range of priority technologies.
According to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, "equitable access to essential health products is an essential part of universal health coverage and of global health security." "The Health Technology Access Pool is an important step towards more equitable access to a broad range of health products through the sharing of intellectual property, knowledge, and scientific innovation, building on what we have learned from C-TAP.
HTAP will facilitate access to health products that address pandemic preparedness and other public health needs, both inside and outside of times of health emergency. With increased market potential and financial sustainability, this strategy will boost the value of HTAP investments for public health and make licensed technology more appealing to recipient firms. An illustration of this strategy is the announcement regarding the licensing of a rapid diagnostic test platform technology.
WHO will release further information about the technologies that HTAP will target and how it will work later in the first quarter of 2024.
The second quarter of 2024 is when HTAP is expected to officially launch. In the interim, WHO will evaluate potential to secure health innovations and increase regional or global production capacity using the concepts and methodology outlined above.
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