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Devising a more equitable system

After a recent meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia has agreed to resume sharing its bird flu virus samples with the World Health Organisation — it had stopped the practice three months ago — but only on condition that the world body used them solely for research. Before a vaccine is developed using its virus, Indonesia's consent must be obtained. A study of its H5N1 samples is essential because the largest number of human deaths from bird flu, including those from human-to-human transmission, are reported from that country. Indonesia's earlier refusal may have invited, understandably, the ire of scientific community. But it did help to turn the spotlight on the iniquitous sharing mechanism.

With the drug industry also having access to samples with the WHO, there is the definite prospect of pharmaceutical companies in the developed countries using them to produce an efficacious vaccine and stockpiling it. On the other hand, countries that had supplied the strains from which the vaccine had been developed — mostly southeast Asian countries that are the hotded of H5N1outbreaks — will have no right of access to the vaccine when struck by a pandemic. It is imperative that a system is devised wherein the providers of vital material and samples for research and development of new drugs or vaccines are themselves not unfairly denied the right of sharing the benefits.

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