Pay big pharma to solve antibiotics crisis, says UK government review
‘Pharmaceutical companies should be given cash incentives of up to $3bn to find and develop new antibiotics desperately needed to keep infections at bay, according to a UK government review. Jim O’Neill, the economist and former chair of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, asked to find solutions to the global antibiotic crisis, said at the launch of his report that a fund worth between $16bn and $37bn per decade would be enough to incentivise drug companies to turn their attentions to antibiotics.
The Antimicrobial Review (AMR) Committee proposals, he said, could “supercharge antibiotics discovery, potentially saving millions of lives for a fraction of the $100tn cost of inaction”. He estimated that globally, 10 million people could die every year from untreatable infections unless new antibiotics are discovered.
O’Neill, who was asked to chair the review by David Cameron, said it was possible that the global taxpayer would have to foot the bill for the fund.’
Read more: Pay big pharma to solve antibiotics crisis, says UK government review
Former Goldman economist Jim O'Neill to join Treasury
‘Former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill is to become a key figure in the UK Treasury.
Mr O’Neill coined the term ‘BRICs’ [Brazil, Russia, India, China] to refer to developing economies.
Chancellor George Osborne tweeted that the retiring Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman is to become the Commercial Secretary at the Treasury.
Mr Osborne chose Mr O’Neill to “make devolution and the Northern Powerhouse happen”.’
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