In­side the UK's push to ad­dress the an­timi­cro­bial cri­sis with a Net­flix-style sub­scrip­tion mod­el

De­spite a ris­ing threat of an­timi­cro­bial re­sis­tance, Big Phar­ma es­sen­tial­ly aban­doned the field years ago, un­able to see past the high risk and poor fi­nan­cial re­turns. The UK is look­ing to change that with a new Net­flix-style sub­scrip­tion mod­el — and Pfiz­er and Sh­iono­gi could be the first com­pa­nies to jump in.

The Na­tion­al In­sti­tute for Health and Care Ex­cel­lence (NICE) re­leased draft guid­ance on Tues­day which could see the UK pay a fixed fee of up to £10 mil­lion ($13 mil­lion) per year for ac­cess to Pfiz­er’s Za­v­icef­ta (cef­tazidime/avibac­tam) and Sh­iono­gi’s Fetro­ja (ce­fide­ro­col), re­gard­less of how much is ac­tu­al­ly pre­scribed. In the US, Za­v­icef­ta is sold by Ab­b­Vie as Avy­caz.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER