Gottlieb Unveils Four-Part Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced a four-pronged agency initiative to take on antimicrobial resistance, in part by creating incentives for drugs that treat it.

The FDA’s 2019 Strategic Approach for Combating AMR aims to unify the agency’s centers on one platform, Gottlieb told a Pew Charitable Trusts meeting. The key areas it will address include promoting product development to strengthen the pipeline of safe and effective treatments for antimicrobial-resistant pathogens; promoting antimicrobial stewardship to preserve the effectiveness of available treatments; supporting the development of surveillance tools; and advancing scientific initiatives designed to combat antimicrobial resistance.

A robust antibiotic development pipeline will require a combination of “push” incentives, or those that support research and development, and “pull” incentives, or those that attract more investment, Gottlieb said.