Antibiotic research and development (R&D) is at an inflection point. Faced with ongoing problems with commercial innovation, we argue for a networked public approach to sustainably moving promising compounds through clinical trials. We propose a global public infrastructure of institutes tasked with 1) conducting all trial stages up to market authorization, including small-scale compound production; 2) negotiating licensing agreements for global production and distribution by industry partners; 3) using public purchasing agreements or subscription models to ensure commercially viable drug production at equitable prices. We invite stakeholders to consider our Networked Institute Model’s (NIM) benefits for unblocking the antibiotic pipeline.
NIMble innovation - a networked model for public antibiotic trials
