Economic pull incentives could encourage development, access to high-value antimicrobials

Resistance to antibiotics was associated with more than 14,000 deaths in Canada in 2018, but the global pipeline for new antimicrobials isn’t keeping pace with the problem. Moreover, Canada lags behind other comparable countries in accessing some of the drugs that currently exist.

A report by an expert panel looking into how to ensure a more stable supply of antimicrobials in the future, co-written by CHEPA director Jean-Éric Tarride, suggests that a new compensation model of subscription-based “pull incentives” would help drive research, development and commercialization of novel antimicrobials in Canada.  The report was published by the Council of Canadian Academies and sponsored by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

According to the report, entitled Overcoming Resistance, antimicrobials are often prescribed for short courses, and stewardship limits their use, restraining the revenue-generating potential for companies that invest in developing them. As with pharmaceutical development in general, considerable upstream costs and a high risk of failure add to the challenges. A subscription pull incentive, which provides a fixed annual payment to manufacturers, regardless of sales, holds the greatest promise for revitalizing the market for antimicrobials in Canada.

“We are proposing a model that will not only bring novel antimicrobials to Canada that aren’t currently here, but also ensure that there are antimicrobials in the pipeline that can be launched in Canada in the future,” Tarride says.

Read the full report here.

Read another article here.