BBC News: Take over pharma to create new medicines, says top adviser
“Part of the drugs industry should be taken over to make new antibiotics, an influential economist has argued. Lord Jim O’Neill, who advised the government on antibiotic resistance, said he was shocked by pharmaceutical companies failing to tackle drug-resistant infections. He said the solution may be to ‘just take it away from them and take it over.’ The pharmaceutical industry said it was not standing still on the issue…” (Gallagher, 3/27).

Financial Times: Industry must turn words into action on superbugs, says Jim O’Neill
“Health experts have intensified criticism of the pharmaceutical industry for failing to respond to the rise of drug-resistant superbugs by developing new antibiotics, at a meeting called by Wellcome, the London-based medical research charity. … Lord O’Neill continues to advocate a ‘play or pay’ mechanism to fix the market. An international body such as the World Health Organization would levy a small charge, perhaps 2 percent, on all drug sales by pharma companies that do not have antibiotic development programs. This would help to fund a market entry prize of $1bn to $1.5bn for each genuinely novel antibiotic that meets a defined medical need…” (Cookson, 3/27).