Our thinking

NHS tests subscription model for antibiotics

6 June, 2025

What if the next global health breakthrough came not from a lab, but from a business model? Every day, we interact with new ways of delivering products and services, from subscriptions to on-demand platforms, that make life easier and more efficient. But what if we used those same ideas to tackle other challenges? 

In the UK, that’s what’s happening. Inspired by Netflix, the NHS is testing a subscription model for antibiotics. Instead of paying pharmaceutical companies for each pill they sell, which can encourage overuse, the government will pay them a fixed fee to make sure treatments are ready and available when needed. This way, companies are rewarded for keeping life-saving drugs on hand, not for how much they sell. It’s a smart way to fight antibiotic resistance by changing how the system works. Other countries are already exploring that path, recognising that this issue requires global action; for example, a similar approach is already underway in the US, where the federal government has announced plans to implement a comparable subscription-style model. 

It’s a bold move and a reminder that the next big social breakthrough might not require new technology but just a new application of what already works. And this can come from the corporate sector too. Both Airbnb and Uber have extended and applied their models to address social issues. Airbnb.org takes on emergency refugee housing and Uber Health is a solution for medical transport. What was already a smart way to book a place to sleep or a ride has also become a model to help solve something bigger. 

The business world is full of brilliant models. Rethinking how and what they are used for is a great path to creating further good. 

By Justine Bahoumina