Incentivizing Antibiotic Development

John Mohr, PharmD, president and founder of Medical Affairs Strategic Solutions, LLC, discusses push and pull incentives that drive antibiotic development.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“In my opinion, there have been numerous push incentives that have been developed in order to [get] people talking about what needs to happen. The GAIN act establishes an additional 5 years of data exclusivity, which is certainly a move in the right direction, but may not be enough time to actually get companies back in the space. Additional things need to be talked about in order to further extend that; however, the most important things that we can begin thinking about are pull incentives to establish a market that’s available for these new therapies. Jim O’Neill has proposed a prize that would be given [to] companies that develop an antibiotic for a true unmet need.

There [are] also discussions about reforming payment structures in the United States. The DISARM act would allow for payment for antimicrobials that are used for true unmet needs outside of the DRG payment system. These two pull incentives are the areas that are being discussed the most; [however], more needs to be done in this area [in regards to the] number of incentives.”