Antibiotic resistance & making medicines in Britain

The new Director of the Wellcome Trust, Jeremy Farrar is right to highlight the ticking bomb of antibiotic resistance and reminds us of the perils that we face if we continue to ignore this emerging public health issue (Britain is reaching 'a tipping point in its use of antibiotics', Jan 8). Part of the solution must inevitably involve greater working in partnership between commercial organisations such as biotech, pharmaceutical companies, charities, the NHS and central government.  But making new medicines is an expensive and risky business. 

The days of the blockbuster drug, are over and costs of development are escalating. So if we are to continue with a market-driven approach to developing new drugs. investors need a more persuasive investment proposition.  

This means that we must therefore either accept higher prices for drugs or re-evaluate our approach to patent protection. A longer patent lifetime would allow investors to generate a return over a longer period and incentivise pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics. Perhaps even more importantly it would provide a business model that could safeguard the pipeline of new affordable medicines for many other diseases and establish Britain as the destination of choice for the next generation of drug hunters.

A modified version of this was published in the Daily Telegraph