> "That’s because the process of developing any new drug is extremely expensive and the potential profit in an antibiotic after that massive investment is relat

> "That’s because the process of developing any new drug is extremely expensive and the potential profit in an antibiotic after that massive investment is relatively low. ... At current usage levels a new antibiotic, he says, would only have about two years on the market before bacterial resistance to it develops." Seems to me that the patent system, meant to encourage invention, is seriously broken in the case of antibiotics. So stop using it. Set up a bounty system instead. Pay drug companies directly for developing new antibiotics. Without the pressure of having to sell them quickly we can instead use them more strategically, even holding some in reserve.