The NHS has announced plans to expand its subscription-style drug contracts to develop lifesaving antibiotics of the future.
Recent data has shown that more people than ever before are contracting drug-resistant superbugs, with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) predicted to cause 10 million global deaths each year by 2050 if nothing is done.
NHS England has announced it is building on the pilot to incentivise the pharmaceutical industry to develop new antibiotics that could be offered to NHS patients when they need them the most.
A consultation has been launched almost a year after for two superbug-busting drugs were rolled out as part of a world-first pilot. Cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam, were awarded world-first subscription contracts which provided the companies with a fixed annual fee based primarily on the availability of the drugs and their value to the NHS, not the volumes used.
It is hoped that by breaking the link between the payments companies receive and the number of their antibiotics prescribed, any incentive to overuse antibiotics will be removed, decreasing the risk of life-threatening infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia, becoming resistant to treatment.
David Glover, NHS assistant director of medicines analysis, said: “The NHS is proud to be leading the way and using our commercial capabilities to reshape the global approach to the critical healthcare threats posed by antimicrobial resistance.
“As we continue to take lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of new antibiotics is absolutely essential to help build resilience to respond rapidly to new superbugs and save lives.
“With the proposed expansion of our world-first subscription model following a successful pilot, we want to meet this challenge head on and lead the response to the global battle against antimicrobial resistance, which could undermine the ability to deliver routine hospital care and treatment for patients.”
Nick Crabb, programme director, Scientific Affairs at NICE, said: “NICE is committed to supporting the ambition of the NHS to have access to effective new antimicrobials to call on when needed, and patients aren’t left without treatment options in the face of growing antimicrobial resistance. Today’s announcement shows the UK is leading the way in finding solutions that will ensure the antibiotics market is fit for purpose. Taking on board the learnings from the recent pilot we are now moving to the next stage, embedding routine arrangements for the evaluation and reimbursement of new antimicrobials within the NHS, across all nations of the UK. A new panel convened by NICE will play a critical role by evaluating antimicrobials using a novel and pragmatic, clinically led award criteria and scoring system.
“But the UK can’t face this growing challenge on its own, so we will continue to share our learning with international stakeholders and encouraging other countries to offer similar incentives in their own domestic markets, so that collectively we can achieve a meaningful incentive for global investment in antimicrobials.”
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
