UPDATE 1-Drug firms ask governments to do more in fight against superbugs

(Adds comment from GlaxoSmithKline CEO, more on new market
models)
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) - More than 80
international drug and biotech firms urged governments to work
with them to combat drug-resistant superbugs which could kill
tens of millions of people within decades unless progress is
made and new antibiotics found.
In a declaration at the World Economic Forum in Davos, they
called for coordinated efforts to cut unnecessary use of
antibiotics and support development of new ones, including by
creating new economic models and investing in research.
GlaxoSmithKline GSK.L Chief Executive Andrew Witty said
the difficulty of finding new antibiotics was highlighted by the
fact that mass screenings of hundreds of millions of chemicals
at GSK and two other large firms over nine years had yielded
zero potential new drugs.
"That's not because we are all really stupid. It's because
it is a really, really difficult space to make progress in," he
said in Davos.
The 83 pharmaceutical companies urged governments around the
world to commit money "to provide appropriate incentives".
Since new antibiotics will likely be kept in reserve for
emergencies, possible new market models could include upfront
payments that would delink profits from sales volumes.
Any use of antibiotics promotes the development and spread
of so-called superbugs - multi-drug-resistant infections that
can evade the medicines designed to kill them.
International alarm about the superbug threat is rising
after the discovery in China of a gene called mcr-1 that makes
bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics. ID:nL8N13D343
"For the world to continue to have new antibiotics, we need
investments in basic science and novel incentive models for
industry R&D, and to protect our existing treatments, we need
new frameworks for appropriate use," said Paul Stoffels, chief
scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson (N:JNJ) JNJ.N .
Former Goldman Sachs (N:GS) chief economist Jim O'Neill was asked
in 2014 by Britain's prime minister to conduct a full review of
the problem and suggest ways to combat it.
In his initial report, he estimated antibiotic and microbial
resistance could kill an extra 10 million people a year and cost
up to $100 trillion by 2050 if it is not brought under control.
While the problem of infectious bugs becoming drug-resistant
has been a feature of medicine since the discovery of the first
antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928, it has grown in recent years as
drugmakers have cut back investment in the field.
In their Davos declaration, the companies pledged to
encourage more appropriate use of new and existing antibiotics,
including more judicious use of the drugs in livestock.
They also promised to increase investment in R&D "that meets
global public health needs" and work to ensure affordable access
to antibiotics all over the world, at all levels of income.
Other companies signing up to the declaration include Merck (N:MRK)
MRK.N , Pfizer PFE.N , Sanofi SASY.PA , Novartis NOVN.VX
and AstraZeneca AZN.L .