Accelerating R&D processes

The Blueprint works on a list of priority pathogens diseases that pose the greatest public health threat because of their epidemic potential and for which there are none or very few medical countermeasures.  

A first list of priority infectious diseases was developed and published in 2015. Since then, the list has been constantly updated to respond to changing global and regional health and geopolitical factors. As of 2018, the list included high consequence pathogens such as Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), Ebola, Lassa fever, Nipah, Rift Valley fever, Zika and Disease X (which acknowledges that a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease could also lead to a serious international epidemic).

For each of these pathogens, globally agreed R&D Roadmaps and generic Target Product Profiles (TPPs) are being developed through broad and open consultations with leading experts and other stakeholders. The roadmap development process has been informed by the experience of the first developed Roadmap for MERS-CoV and has been documented in a generic methodology that serves as a guide to structure and harmonize roadmaps creation and implementation.

The Blueprint has also been fostering collaborations and consultations between regulators to develop WHO regulatory guidance to facilitate regulatory assessment of candidate MCM.

This area of work is comprised of three workstreams (see details below):

• Disease prioritization
• Roadmaps & Target product profiles
• Regulatory & Ethical pathways