Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
ISSN
0278-2715
Publisher
Project HOPE
Language
En-US
Abstract
The world faces a worsening public health crisis: A growing number of bacteria are resistant to available antibiotics. Yet there are few new antibiotics in the development pipeline to take the place of these increasingly ineffective drugs. We review a number of proposals intended to bolster drug development, including such financial incentives for pharmaceutical manufacturers as extending the effective patent life for new antibiotics. However, such strategies directly conflict with the clear need to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and could actually increase prescription use. As an alternative, we recommend a two-prong, "integrated" strategy. This would increase reimbursement for the appropriate, evidence-based use of antibiotics that also met specific public health goals - such as reducing illness levels while limiting antibiotic resistance.
Recommended Citation
Kevin Outterson,
Fighting Antibiotic Resistance: Marrying New Financial Incentives To Meeting Public Health Goals
,
in
29
Health Affairs
1689
(2010).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/495
