The Milken Institute Future of Health Summit convenes the best minds in the world to confront the most significant health challenges by matching human, financial, scientific, and educational resources with innovative and impactful ideas. The Summit will focus on the converging crises of public health, economic insecurity, and social injustice. COVID-19 has exposed weaknesses across our health systems, particularly in the treatment of our most vulnerable communities, where access to affordable and quality health care has never been more vital.

Participants include Kevin Outterson, Executive Director of CARB-X, who will be moderating a session entitled “Are Resistant Infections the Next Pandemic? New Antibiotics Need New Incentives” on Tuesday, December 8th from 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST.

Are Resistant Infections the Next Pandemic? New Antibiotics Need New Incentives: Antibiotic treatment in COVID-19 patients is driving antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as secondary infections emerge. While large pharmaceutical companies have retreated from antibiotic development, smaller enterprises have compensated with innovative therapies to ensure an arsenal of anti-infective drugs. But numerous recent bankruptcies show that times are tough even for companies with newly approved antibiotics. Several large pharmaceutical companies recently joined in launching the billion-dollar Antimicrobial Action Fund for antibiotic development. This welcome investment buys time to right the market, but it is clear that a pull incentive is needed to drive the market. What are the lessons to learn from the UK NHS NICE subscription-model pilot? Is a pull incentive enough to attract private investment to antimicrobials? How can we develop a sustainable market for antibiotics so that drug-resistant infections do not become the next pandemic?

Speakers Include:

• Michael Boyle
  President and CEO, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
• Nick Crabb
  Programme Director, Scientific Affairs, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
• Sally Davies
  UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance, UK Government
• Odysseas Kostas
  Partner and Senior Managing Director, Sarissa Capital

To learn more, click here.
To view the program, click here.