Understanding Antibiotic Resistance: Challenges and Opportunities to Overcome the Growing Public Health Crisis

Abstract

Antibiotic drugs have been one of modern medicine’s success stories, yet the underpinnings of that success are being unraveled by the alarming rate of bacterial resistance, coupled with the abandonment of antibiotic research and development programs by the large pharmaceutical companies. In order to mitigate the human and economic toll associated with antibiotic resistance, policymakers need to develop appropriate incentives for both antibiotic development and antibiotic usage. This paper reviews the unique problems inherent in the antibiotic market and discusses the current policy options proposed by the medical community as well as by legal scholars. Finally, the paper proposes a solution based on de-linking the financial incentives for innovation from the market-based incentives for consumption.