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Over five days at #IGWG8, @who.int Member States sought to advance the #PABS Annex – but no major breakthrough emerged. Complex discussions continued on how pathogen data would flow through the system and how benefits would be enforced. Key takeaways 🧵👇🏼

2️⃣ A demanding programme of work alternated between informal sessions led by co-facilitators and formal sessions chaired by the Bureau. Co-facilitators opened the week by mapping convergences and divergences from the preparatory informals. www.who.int/news-room/ev...

3️⃣ Part of the week was spent discussing the trade-offs of the proposed #PABS data access models, with no convergence yet. The EU-backed ‘hybrid’ model would let pathogen data flow across databases; the Africa Group's ‘federated’ model would keep data with the country holding it.

4️⃣ Attention also turned to 'downstream' measures (ie controls applied by regulatory agencies during the development & approval of viable products) as a complementary checkpoint to ensure #PABS benefits are enforced. @cepi.net & other stakeholders backed this type of measure.