New BIO White Paper Outlines Policies to Better Combat Antimicrobial Resistance


BIOtech Now
Gregory Frank

In recent years, the global community has directed a high level of political attention to address the urgent global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).  One common message from many of these efforts is the need to add new tools to our arsenal to better identify, treat, and prevent AMR infections.  The biopharmaceutical industry, both established as well as early stage biotechnology companies, plays a key role in developing and bringing these innovative new medicines to patients.  However, investment in AMR product research has declined significantly in recent years[1], both in early venture capital investment and by established biopharmaceutical companies.  This trend clearly illustrates the economic challenges to traditional market approaches in incentivizing AMR product development sustainably.

To best address the threat of AMR, the global community must identify ways to promote a diverse and robust pipeline, with both short-term and novel higher risk products.  Indeed, these efforts are getting underway.  In particular, within the U.S., the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB), which advises the U.S. government on its AMR policy, is developing a set of policy recommendations for economic incentives to rebuild this pipeline.  The PACCARB and other organizations working on incentives have sought stakeholder perspectives on how these incentives should be developed.

Seeking to present a unified industry perspective on how to encourage the diverse and robust pipeline of products to address AMR, BIO today released a white paper on AMR incentive policies for consideration by U.S. policymakers.  The document discusses the economic challenges in AMR product development, puts forward a set of key principles to be considered when developing AMR incentives, and finally presents a menu of general incentives policies with the potential to advance the entire range of AMR products to address AMR.

BIO, as a signatory to the Davos Declaration on AMR, has agreed to the clarion call to help develop a sustainable, predictable, and diverse market of AMR products.  While the task is monumental, we believe sustained efforts by BIO and other stakeholders will lead to the rise of the novel tools we need to stem the tide of AMR.

[1] https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v472/n7341/full/472032a.html

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