BioHub

2021: Switzerland and WHO launch global repository for pathogen research

At the end of May 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the launch of a global repository for the study of pathogens. This is a project called BioHub, which is designed to jointly study viruses and develop methods to combat them around the world. First of all, the initiative was launched in order to counter the spread of COVID-19.

Based in Spitz, Switzerland, the institution will become a center for the safe production, sequencing, storage and preparation of pathogen biological materials for distribution to other laboratories. This will contribute to the assessment of the risks they pose and will support global preparedness to combat them, WHO notes.

Switzerland, together with WHO, launch global repository for pathogen research

Access to BioHub will be made available to qualified organizations, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers, for the development of by-products and their equitable distribution across countries.

Close international cooperation to ensure the timely exchange of epidemiological and clinical data as well as biological materials is of paramount importance... At the moment, transparency and openness will play into the hands of everyone. And if something new appears somewhere, it can be quickly studied. To do this, we have private and public institutions, "said Alain Berse, federal adviser (minister) of the interior of Switzerland, who oversees health issues, at a press conference on May 25, 2021.

WHO head Tedros Adanom Gebreisus thanked the Swiss authorities for supporting the project and noted that the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other epidemic outbreaks and epidemics, emphasized the importance of rapid pathogen exchange to help the global scientific community assess risk and develop countermeasures.^[1]

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