Learning from our mistakes: using key opportunities to remove the perverse incentives that help drive antibiotic...

Introduction: Governments need to do far more to help curb the emergence and transmission of antibiotic resistance and help protect the efficacy of any new antibiotics that come to the market. Industry is an important stakeholder that must be brought on-board such efforts given its influence on the direction and scale of antibiotic sales. Financial incentives supporting industry R&D of novel antibiotics should structurally remove the drivers of superfluous sales and encourage access to newer antibiotics where infections are otherwise resistant to treatment. Indeed, the use of public money provides an important opportunity to prioritize these public health goals within market structures such that we both adequately reward industry for their efforts and prolong antibiotic efficacy for as long as possible.Areas covered: This work discusses possible financial 'pull' incentives that fully delink the reward paid to the developer from unit sales, examining their primary advantages and limitations.Expert opinion: Pharmaceutical companies need to be rewarded generously for their efforts to develop new, badly needed antibiotics. But the current marketplace does not provide a sustained financial lure and its reliance on unit-sales for profitability jeopardizes the efficacy of antibiotics both new and old. Fully delinked models can make antibiotic R&D more financially appealing and create a market environment that is far less threatening to public health.