Antibiotic Bill Doesn’t GAIN Enough Ground

Albany, NY, July 18, 2011 – The Institute for Clinical Pharmacodynamics (ICPD) today announced that its President,
Dr. Paul G. Ambrose, Pharm.D., FIDSA, had an Opinion article published in the July 2011 issue of Nature Medicine [Ambrose PG. Antibiotic bill doesn’t GAIN enough ground. Nat Med 2011; 17(7):772.].

The article, “Antibiotic Bill Doesn’t GAIN Enough Ground” discussed the recently proposed incentives to jump-start the ailing antibiotic industry. The reintroduced legislation is called the Generating Antibiotic Incentives Now (GAIN) Act.

In the article, Dr. Ambrose discussed the various reasons why the GAIN Act is not enough to either attract or retain big pharma’s attention.

“As written, it is unlikely that the legislation will have the intended consequences, as it fails to adequately shield companies from competition with generic drugs,” expressed Dr. Ambrose. “To truly entice investment and research from the drug industry, the bill needs to simplify the path to regulatory approval, provide greater protection from generic competition and aid drug companies with intellectual property extensions, tax relief and guaranteed market commitments.”

“In addition to the GAIN Act’s provisions, legislators should introduce R&D tax credits, research subsidies and, most importantly, guaranteed market commitments and longer marketing exclusivity (longer than ten years from approval) to boost the ailing industry,” writes Dr. Ambrose. “Furthermore, drug companies should be offered tax relief for educational programs that promote the appropriate use of antibiotics. Such measures could ultimately benefit both industry and society at large.”

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The ICPD serves as a center for translational science collaboration to the world. We help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies develop more effective and safer drugs through advanced methods of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic system analysis. Our general contact information is as follows:

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