Who will pay for new antibiotics?
Governments around the world are starting to consider alternative funding models and incentives for antibiotics. Katrina Megget asks if it is enough
Big pharma has been talking about it for years. The only way the world could hope to tackle the impending disaster of antimicrobial resistance – which estimates suggest could result in 10 million deaths a year by 2050 – was to fix the broken antibiotic business model. In other words, change how pharmaceutical companies are rewarded for innovation. Do this, it was claimed, and big pharma, which has largely left the space in droves for pastures more prosperous, would come back into the fold. It’s been a slow grind to get governments to take action but now, as the reality of a post-antibiotic era looms, countries have started to commit themselves to exploring the options.