In fight to deal with superbugs, UK government review suggests 'play or pay' deal

A UK government review warning of an ‘antibiotics apocalypse’ is recommending the introduction of incentives to encourage pharmaceutical companies to invest in research activity to find new drugs and treatments to tackle the ever-growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

In July 2014, the UK government commissioned the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust.Lord Jim O’Neill, the Treasury Minister who led the much anticipated review, said there is “a strong case” for drugmakers to pay for new anti-infective drugs that market forces have failed to deliver.

The report warns that failure to tackle the rise of the superbug could propel the current annual death toll from 700,000 to 10 million by 2050, at a global cost of $100 trillion between now and then. Lord O’Neill also hopes to get international support in September at the G20 Summit in China and the UN General Assembly.

The review has proposed that pharmaceutical companies that fail to devote resources to developing antibiotics should pay a levy of 0.25% of annual sales into a pooled fund to support market rewards for other companies that successfully develop new treatments.