WHO Health Technology Access Pool (HTAP) to Succeed C-TAP

The World Health Organization (WHO) has introduced the Health Technology Access Pool (HTAP) as successor to the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), marking a pivotal step toward global health equity. HTAP aims to reshape the development, sharing, and access of health technologies globally, prioritizing equity, collaboration, and innovation. The initiative seeks to significantly improve public health outcomes and address health crises more effectively.

Building on the collaborative foundation laid by C-TAP, which aimed to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 health products globally, HTAP strives to enhance access to health products addressing public health priorities, both during and outside of emergencies. This strategic approach not only increases the public health impact of HTAP investments but also enhances the attractiveness of licensed technologies to recipient manufacturers, unlocking market opportunities and ensuring financial sustainability. A recent illustration of this strategy is the licensing announcement for a rapid diagnostic test platform technology.

“Equitable access to essential health products is an essential part of universal health coverage, and of global health security,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO.

C-TAP served as a pivotal platform for technology partners, enabling the voluntary sharing of intellectual property, knowledge, and data to hasten technological innovation and widen access to COVID-19 tools. Despite the challenges faced in establishing such a mechanism during a pandemic with limited resources, C-TAP secured six transparent, non-exclusive global licenses encompassing 15 technologies, spanning research and development tools, diagnostics, and vaccines. This included the groundbreaking inclusion of the first license from a private manufacturer.

Further details on how HTAP will operate and the specific technologies it will target are expected to be published by WHO later in the first quarter of 2024. The official launch of HTAP is slated for the second quarter of 2024. In the interim, WHO will apply the principles of equity, collaboration, and innovation, as well as the strategic approach outlined above, to evaluate opportunities for securing health technologies and expanding regional or global production capacity.