Reports call for $2 billion fund to spur research into new antibiotics

Jim O'Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has called for a $2-billion fund for research into new antibiotics, in a report commissioned by the UK government

Jim O'Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Ever-evolving bacteria have left doctors desperate for new drugs, and the report commissioned by the government of the UK laid out a plan for countering the threat - governments needed to unite globally to offer multi-billion dollar incentives for drug developers, and pharmaceutical companies should pool their billions for supporting early-stage research.

For making antibiotics R&D commercially sustainable, the report calls for lump-sum payments from a global reimbursement fund to successful drug developers, set against selective criteria agreed in advance.

The review says a comprehensive package of interventions could cost as little $16 billion, and not over $37 billion over the course of 10 years.

''We've estimated if we don't do these kind of things, it's going to cause world GDP to be $100 trillion smaller than would otherwise be the case in 35 years' time.

''Unless we find a way to develop treatments that cure illnesses in months, rather than treat symptoms for years, we will not see the breakthroughs that both scientists and patients want''.

O'Neill is perhaps best known for having promoted the term BRICs to describe the fast-emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. He has warned that the global economic cost of inaction could be as much as $100 trillion.

The renowned financier also entered British politics yesterday, becoming commercial secretary in the Treasury for the newly reelected Conservative government.

In the report published on Thursday, he argues that research into antimicrobial resistance could be kickstarted by a global innovation fund worth $2 billion over 5 years.

The fund, would be financed by drug companies to provide firms with funding for the risky, expensive early stages of drug research.

Existing antibiotics, which have been overused have led to the problem of ''superbugs'' bacteria, resistant to antibiotics.

"No new classes of antibiotics have been created for decades and our current drugs are becoming less effective as resistance increases," O'Neill said in a statement about the report.

"We need to kick-start drug development to make sure the world has the drugs it needs, to treat infections and to enable modern medicine and surgery to continue as we know it."

Very few big pharma companies were carrying out research into new antibiotics, partly due to the market not being valuable, and partly because there were already other treatments available.

Also drugs for the treatment of chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure, were seen as a better investment as they provided no cure and had to be taken over many years of a patient's life.