July newsletter: Progress through collaboration
International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat
The International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat (IPPS) supports the delivery of the 100 Days Mission.
Dear Friend of the 100 Days Mission,
As July draws to a close, we reflect on a pivotal period for global pandemic preparedness.
In June, IPPS was honoured to participate in the 4th G20 Health Working Group meeting under South Africa’s presidency. It was a welcome opportunity to advance conversations on building resilient, regionally distributed R&D ecosystems and to advocate for the need for improved coordination and investment in therapeutics, as well as the role of tools like the 100 Days Mission (100DM) Scorecard in tracking preparedness progress and ongoing readiness.
These discussions come at a time of global recalibration. Following the adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement at the World Health Assembly in May, the spotlight has turned to drafting and negotiating an annex on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system, country implementation and long-term sustainability. At the same time, institutions including IPPS and others such as The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) are approaching the end of their mandates, prompting timely, important conversations about the future of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response monitoring. François Lacoste, Rosane Cuber Guimarães, François Lacoste, Rosane Cuber Guimarães,
We’ve also seen encouraging momentum around pandemic readiness. Steps are being taken to bring together global stakeholders towards building the Therapeutics Development Coalition, to strengthen the therapeutics pipeline aligned with the 100DM therapeutics roadmap. This edition highlights IPPS’s technical contributions across these areas and our continued support to partners embedding preparedness into durable, equitable systems — ensuring this work endures well beyond our own organisational timelines.
Thank you for your continued support,
Reflecting on a productive G20 Health Working Group
Last month’s G20 Health Working Group meeting in Johannesburg provided a vital opportunity to take stock of global progress, and gaps, in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
Dr Victor Dzau , President of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and Co-Chair of the IPPS Science and Technology Expert Group (STEG), delivered a powerful call to action. Drawing on the latest 100 Days Mission Scorecard, he underlined that while tools and momentum exist, the global community must act now to operationalise them before the next crisis strikes.
The Scorecard, developed by IPPS and Impact Global Health , highlights a concerning decline in R&D funding since 2022 and reveals persistent weaknesses across the pipeline, including the underdevelopment of therapeutics, overreliance on a narrow base of funders, and a lack of global trial infrastructure. Dr Dzau urged G20 leaders to consider the use of tools like the Scorecard, diversify funding, harmonise regulation, and support new public-private partnerships, including the nascent Therapeutics Development Coalition being scoped by IPPS and partners.
The message was clear: the 100 Days Mission is not just a scientific challenge, but a strategic one, and the G20 has a vital role to play in realising it.
You can read more about Dr Dzau’s remarks at the G20 in a blog written for CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) :
The future of pandemic preparedness
As the global health community recalibrates following the adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement in May, the spotlight has shifted to focus on the PABS annex and towards country implementation. This includesefforts to fill enduring gaps in pandemic readiness as recently highlighted by a series of policy briefs from The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response . Momentum is building in some areas, including:
1. Defining the future of PPR monitoring
A new comment piece in The Lancet Group , co-authored by GPMB members including Dr Victor Dzau, makes the case for a Global Pandemic Risk Observatory - an independent, forward-looking mechanism to unify and build on existing monitoring frameworks. The proposed Observatory would integrate real-time risk signals (e.g., zoonotic spillover, conflict, and climate threats) with preparedness capacities and supply chain vulnerabilities, delivering foresight and actionable intelligence to inform global, regional and national decision-making.
We encourage readers to explore the article in full here:
🔗 Unifying forces to strengthen pandemic preparedness: a call for a Global Pandemic Risk Observatory
2. Addressing gaps in diagnostics and therapeutics
Work is also accelerating to fill long-standing gaps in the medical countermeasure ecosystem. IPPS, in partnership with Brown University Pandemic Center and FIND , has initiated a targeted effort to convene diagnostics stakeholders around the persistent weaknesses in end-to-end diagnostic development, from early R&D to regulatory pathways and equitable distribution. In September 2025, a diagnostics gap assessment will be published as a result of these convenings, providing clear next steps. We also hope to align efforts with WHO’s newly launched Global Diagnostics Coalition.
At the same time, the case for investment in therapeutics is growing. With funding declining and pipelines thinning, IPPS is working with partners to define and develop the proposed Therapeutics Development Coalition: a global public-private partnership to reinvigorate the Tx pipeline, aligned with the 100 Days Mission Therapeutics Roadmap.
These two strands, effective pandemic risk monitoring and actionable R&D investment, are essential to the future of preparedness. IPPS is committed to supporting both, ensuring that the systems we build are not only technically sound, but enduring and equitable.
Welcoming new STEG members
We are pleased to have welcomed four new members to the IPPS Science and Technology Expert Group (STEG). You can read their biographies on the IPPS website, just click on their photo.
Upcoming engagements and additional resources
August is a quieter month in the global health calendar, but looking further ahead into September and October, IPPS will be engaging with several events as listed below. If you are attending and would like to meet with a member of our team, please email us at info@ippsecretariat.org.
- UNGA, New York (22nd-23rd September)
- CEPI MCM R&D Funders Roundtable, Ottawa (24th-25th September)
- i-MCM-Net Partners Meeting, Istanbul (30th September-1st October)
- Pandemic Institute Scientific Meeting, Liverpool (1st-2nd October)
You can also find important insights and information in the key resources listed below. If you’re resource is not listed here and you feel it should be, feel free to send us an email at: info@ippsecretariat.org.
If you haven’t already signed up, you can receive this newsletter direct to your LinkedIn notifications by signing up here.
🧪 FIND’s newsletter
🥼 Global Health Technology Coalition’s Weekly R&D News Roundup
🌐 Pandemic Action Network’s weekly Pandemic Action Playbook
Visiting Lecturer in Infectious Diseases
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