New Drugs to Tackle Antimicrobial Resistance: Analysis of EU Policy Options

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is becoming a major global public health threat, contributing to the growing problem of drug resistance, a naturally occurring consequence of treating infectious diseases with drugs. Recently, AMR has begun to command attention from European policy makers whose focus has moved towards addressing the lack of new drugs in the R&D pipeline of the pharmaceutical industry.In 2009 the EU focused on the need for the development of new antibacterials to fill the pipeline and the need for the introduction of appropriate incentives to stimulate R&D for novel antibiotics. A Report commissioned from the London School of Economics (LSE) examined appropriate ways to stimulate the development of new antibiotics. Its findings, and other material were discussed at a conference in Stockholm in September 2009.The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion that began in Stockholm by presenting policy makers and other relevant stakeholders with a short list of feasible and realistic solutions for Europe to stimulate R&D by attempting to determine the size of the various incentives needed to make the net present value (NPV) for antibiotic development more competitive relative to other therapeutic classes. To do this we selected incentives that have been implemented or discussed in regards to addressing disincentives and market failures in other markets: neglected diseases, orphan drugs, countermeasures against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) agents, and evidence for paediatric drug use.