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Development of new antibiotics encouraged with new pharmaceutical payment system: The NHS will test the world's first ‘subscription’

2019-07-09 13:07:14

Development of new antibiotics encouraged with new pharmaceutical payment system: The NHS will test the world's first ‘subscription’ style payment model to incentivise pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs for resistant infections.

"The new trial will be led by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England and NHS Improvement.

It will test a ‘subscription’ style model that pays pharmaceutical companies upfront for access to drugs based on their usefulness to the NHS.

This will make it more attractive for companies to invest the estimated £1 billion it costs to develop a new drug, as they can be reassured they will still be paid for the drug even though it may be stored for reserves."

Dr Sheuli Porkess, Executive Director of Research, Medical and Innovation at the ABPI, responded:

"Increased resistance to antibiotics is one of the greatest threats to global health we face.

"Today's announcement is an example of how the UK can lead the world in this fight and hopefully brings us closer to fixing the problems that have hampered investment in antibiotics research for so long.

"Patients can’t afford to wait. Our members are ready to get started, and the sooner we get this pilot up and running, the sooner we can apply what we find to other antimicrobials in development." (http://www.abpi.org.uk/media-centre/news/2019/july/abpi-response-to-details-of-new-payment-system-for-antibiotics/)

The subscription-style model is being tried elsewhere in an attempt to limit the cost of medication - for example for Hepatitis C in Louisiana (https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2019/01/10/louisiana-hepatitis-netflix-drug-prices/).

Source: www.gov.uk

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