A joint policy paper from GARDP, DNDi, MMV and MDGH (October 2026)

As the global health architecture undergoes reform, four product development partnerships (PDPs) outline the WHO functions that are critical to needs-driven health innovation and explain why these must be protected and strengthened.

WHO and PDPs play distinct but complementary roles. WHO sets global priorities, develops standards and policy guidance, assures quality, and supports countries in adopting and implementing health interventions. PDPs, meanwhile, bring together the scientific, clinical, manufacturing and access partnerships needed to develop health technologies for diseases and populations that markets often overlook. Since 2010, PDPs have helped develop and introduce 79 health technologies.

The paper examines nine WHO functions that underpin the journey from research priority-setting to patient access. These include WHO priority pathogen lists that helped shape GARDP’s Gram-negative portfolio, target product profiles such as the 2026 WHO antibacterial TPPs, the WHO Essential Medicines List, which now includes cefiderocol, prequalification processes, and regulatory reliance pathways that enable national authorities to build on assessments conducted elsewhere.

The paper sets out seven recommendations to protect and strengthen the WHO functions that are essential for needs-driven health innovation and equitable access to health technologies.