3 August 2017 - Antimicrobial-resistant infections affect more than 2 million people annually in the United States alone, accounting for an estimated 23 000 deaths and estimated economic costs of $55 billion.

To address this increasingly important global public health challenge, the UN General Assembly6 and other international organisations have issued calls for action. Groups including Chatham House, Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, DRIVE-AB (Driving Reinvestment in Research and Development and Responsible Antibiotic Use), and the Global Union for Antibiotics Research and Development have developed recommendations for economic “pull” incentives in the form of market entry rewards, that would provide a large cash award on new drug approval. 

Rewards would be given for drugs approved for the highest-priority pathogens (such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae or resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae), with the goal of substantially increasing the return on investment for an effective new antimicrobial and “delinking” payment from the volume of use.

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