Stakeholders Hope U.K.’s Antibiotic Payment Model Spurs Action In U.S.

Drug companies and consumer advocates applauded the United Kingdom health department’s decision to test a first-of-its-kind subscription-style model that pays drug companies upfront for new antibiotics based on their usefulness to the U.K’s single-payer health system. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb touted this type of payment model late last year when he revealed FDA had held discussions about a subscription-based reimbursement policy with public and private payers as a way to spur research into new antibiotics. The U.K. announcement comes...