CANCELLED
O’Neill Institute Scholar Sam Halabi analyzes the substantial changes under way in global infectious disease research, including the shift in negotiating Material Transfer Agreements. Twentieth-century research was characterized by an open system of sharing bacterial and viral human pathogens, but now notions of “viral sovereignty,” access contingent on sharing research benefits, and acrimonious negotiations are far more common. Increasing barriers to the flow of research material and related data are posing threats to the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. Halabi’s talk will assess the extent of these barriers and will propose some win-win approaches that may address the global inequalities behind material transfer negotiation issues.
Sam Halabi is the 2018 Fulbright Canada Research Professor in Health Law, Policy, and Ethics at the University of Ottawa, a scholar at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, and an associate professor of law at the University of Missouri. He is an editor of Global Management of Infectious Disease after Ebola, as well as Food and Drug Law in an Era of Globalized Markets. His work is published in JAMA, the Lancet, and the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, among others.