OBJECTIVES: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top ten threats to global health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The magnitude of the issue was demonstrated in a WHO global surveillance report in 2014, however it is only in recent years that policy makers have developed and implemented polices to address AMR. The objective of this research was to explore payers’ perceptions of the impact of initiatives employed to address AMR, specifically Germany’s exceptional P&R pathway for antimicrobials and the UK’s innovative subscription model.

METHODS: Online survey shared with (proxy) payers across EU4 and the UK.

RESULTS: Payers recognize that AMR poses a major threat to their countries and that policymakers are taking actions to address AMR. Overall, payers perceive both the German and UK policies positively. However, the majority rated the UK’s subscription model higher than Germany’s exceptional P&R pathway in terms of impact on addressing AMR and encouraging manufacturers to invest in developing new antibiotics. By specifying a guaranteed income for manufacturers, the UK model is perceived as particularly successful at achieving the latter objective.

CONCLUSIONS: Research and development into new antimicrobials is necessary to combat AMR. This in turn requires creating viable market conditions that encourage investment in this area by the pharmaceutical industry and enable patients to access these new drugs as quickly as possible. Our research showed that payers across key European markets recognize value in creating favorable pricing and reimbursement conditions for antimicrobials. Furthermore, they are in favor of policy makers moving away from the standard pricing and reimbursement frameworks and exploring innovative approaches to make it more lucrative for manufacturers to invest in developing new antimicrobials. However, effectively tackling AMR will require combined and cross-country efforts from policy makers / payers, prescribers, the public and the pharmaceutical industry.