Pharma calls for governments to fund antibiotic development

Pharmaceutical companies, including GSK, Merck, Pfizer and AstraZeneca have called on governments to create new ways of funding antibiotic development, according to the BBC

80 companies, including GSK, Merck, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson signed a declaration that said the value of antibiotics "does not reflect the benefits they bring to society", the BBC reported.

The declaration signed by the companies calls "for governments to commit funding and support the development and implementation of transformational commercial models that enhance conservation of new and existing antibiotics" as well as creating a "sustainable and predictable" market for new drugs, according to the BBC.

At the World Economics Forum, pharma companies said that they would also invest in research and improve antibiotic availability around the globe in return for government funding.

AstraZeneca chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said to the BBC: "The declaration's call for collaborative action on new commercial models is timely.

"Industry is ready to engage with governments to develop alternative market structures to enable the sustainable investment that is necessary if we are to overcome the formidable technical and scientific challenges of antibiotic discovery and development."

At the end of last year EPM reported that experts were warning the ‘post-antibiotic era’ would soon become inevitable and that in December there was bacteria found in the UK that could resist the last antibiotic.

Yet the BBC highlighted that there has not been a new class of antibiotic brought to market, against Gram-negative bacteria, for more than four decades.

Redx Pharma chief executive, Neil Murray, said to the BBC: "There is a doomsday clock ticking, with the effectiveness of antibiotics diminishing at an alarming rate. New ways must be found to support innovation and drug discovery in this critical area."

An article in the Clinical Microbiology and Infection journal says that, “There is a trend toward more severe and more widespread market restrictions for the use of antibiotics. The restrictions reduce the potential earnings of new antibiotics.”

This highlights that as pharma companies only receive money when their drugs sell, yet any new antibiotics will have minimal usage, companies will not recover the development costs of antibiotic drugs.

A report by economist Jim O'Neill suggested lump-sum payments should be given to companies that created proven new antibiotics, estimating the cost to governments would be £11.2-£25.9bn ($16-37bn) over the next decade, according to the BBC.

World Health Organization director general, Margaret Chan, said to the BBC: "Antimicrobial resistance is beyond the capacity of any organisation or country to manage or mitigate alone.

"WHO and its member states have called for the development of new antimicrobial medicines and affordable access to them, in line with the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance.

"This declaration affirms that the challenges of antimicrobial resistance can be addressed only through collaboration and global collective action."