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A shot in the arm for new antibiotics

Nature Biotechnology volume 37, pages 1110–1112 (2019)Cite this article

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To the Editor — On 1 October, a new US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rule comes into effect that enhances economic incentives for newer antibiotics administered in US hospitals1. The rule represents an economically significant post-approval (‘pull’) incentive to boost antibiotic development2. If it is followed by further regulatory action in the coming year, it may prove to be the largest antibiotic pull incentive ever created by the US government. Although the new rule is a welcome shot in the arm for antibiotic discovery and development, the current moribund state of the antibacterial R&D ecosystem means that other incentives, such as a ‘market entry reward’, are still needed to fully incentivize drug companies to embrace (rather than leave) this space3.

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Fig. 1

IQVIA data from Alan Carr, Needham; FDA; CMS.

References

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  1. Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Kevin Outterson

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  1. Kevin Outterson
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Correspondence to Kevin Outterson.

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K.O. is the executive director of CARB-X, funded by three governments (US, UK and Germany) and two foundations (Wellcome Trust and Gates). CARB-X is a non-profit accelerator of preclinical and phase 1 antibacterial research that awards grants worldwide.

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Outterson, K. A shot in the arm for new antibiotics. Nat Biotechnol 37, 1110–1112 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0279-8

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