Project Syndicate: Wasted Drugs and the Creation of Superbugs
Jim O’Neill, commercial secretary to the U.K. Treasury, honorary professor of economics at Manchester University, visiting research fellow at Bruegel, and chair of the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance

“…To achieve the objectives identified by the G7 [around antimicrobial resistance], an especially promising target is drug wastage. … Today, I published a set of three specific interventions to address this problem. Together, these recommendations can limit overuse and build on current efforts to change doctors’ and patients’ behavior within the current system. … My first recommendation is to establish a global innovation fund to jumpstart research and development … My second recommendation is to tie incentives to the public-good aspect of diagnostics. … The third intervention is to support the large, objective studies that are needed to prove a new product’s clinical and cost effectiveness … If we are to defeat superbugs, … patients, doctors, health ministries, and companies worldwide must work together to change the way we use antibiotics, especially by supporting and embracing transformational technology” (10/23).