Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug;8(8):e013421.
doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2023-013421.

The WHO BioHub system: experiences from the pilot phase

Affiliations

The WHO BioHub system: experiences from the pilot phase

Maximilian Brackmann et al. BMJ Glob Health. 2023 Aug.
No abstract available

Keywords: COVID-19; Health policies and all other topics; Public Health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) WHO coordinates and organises the WHO BioHub System and its facilities. Countries share pathogens by signing SMTA 1 for general information about the provider and Annex 2 with specific sample information and sending the samples to the BioHub Facility and can receive them via signing SMTA 2 from the BioHub Facility. Copyrights WHO. (B) Timeline of the setup of the Pilot Phase. Drafting and Negotiating the Terms of Reference and the SMTAs took ≈8 months. Future facilities will benefit from work already invested in these documents. BMEPP, Biological Material of Epidemic or Pandemic Potential; MoU, Memorandum of Understanding; SMTAs, Standard Material Transfer Agreements; ToR, Terms of Reference.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) Workflow of WHO BioHub processes at Spiez Laboratory. (B) The BSL-3 laboratory at Spiez Laboratory. During the pilot phase, only SARS-CoV-2 is transferred between laboratories within the framework of the WHO BioHub System. (C) Spiez Laboratory’s BSL-4 laboratory. A future epidemic or pandemic pathogen might only be handled in laboratories of the highest biological safety level.

References

    1. Sett S, Dos Santos Ribeiro C, Prat C, et al. . Access and benefit-sharing by the European virus Archive in response to COVID-19. Lancet Microbe 2022;3:e316–23. 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00211-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Covington . New report shows that Politicization of sharing pathogens undermines global health security [Internet]. Available: https://www.cov.com/en/news-and-insights/news/2023/01/new-report-shows-t... [Accessed 14 Jun 2023].
    1. IFPMA . Pathogen sharing and global health security [Internet]. Available: https://www.ifpma.org/publications/pathogen-sharing-and-global-health-se... [Accessed 14 Jun 2023].
    1. Saravolatz LD, Depcinski S, Sharma M. Molnupiravir and Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir: oral Coronavirus disease 2019 antiviral drugs. Clin Infect Dis 2023;76:165–71. 10.1093/cid/ciac180 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hirose R, Itoh Y, Ikegaya H, et al. . Differences in environmental stability among SARS-Cov-2 variants of concern: both Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 have higher stability. Clin Microbiol Infect 2022;28:1486–91. 10.1016/j.cmi.2022.05.020 - DOI - PMC - PubMed