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By Bloomberg View

Drug-resistant superbugs could cost the global economy as much as $100 trillion between now and 2050, a threat that warrants as much attention as climate change, according to a review led by economist Jim O’Neill.

If unchecked, the infections may mean 10 million extra deaths a year, with an impact on global wealth roughly equivalent to losing the U.K.’s economic output every year, O’Neill, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economist, told reporters in London yesterday.

The analysis, commissioned by U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron in July, highlights the growing problem of antibiotic resistance and calls for “coherent international action” on drug regulation and use. A continuing review will explore topics such as how to stimulate the development of antimicrobial medicines and the potential of alternative therapies such as vaccines.

“This is a significant global problem, perhaps on the same dimension as climate change,” O’Neill said. “Trying to solve it is a bit like climate change. The cost of stopping the problem is significantly lower than the cost of not stopping the problem.”

Drug-resistant superbugs account for at least 700,000 deaths a year, compared with 130,000 for measles, 1.4 million for diarrheal disease and 8.2 million for cancer, according to the report.

Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance has become so acute that a post- antibiotic era in which common infections and minor injuries lead to death is a possibility this century, the World Health Organization said in April. Overuse of antibiotics among humans and farm animals is the main culprit.

While many companies stopped developing anti-infection drugs years ago to focus on the treatment of more profitable chronic illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, others are seeing an opportunity and a growing unmet need.

Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. sells three medicines for hard- to-treat infections and has four others in the pipeline, making it the world leader in antibiotics. Merck & Co., the second- biggest U.S. drugmaker, agreed this week to buy Cubist for $8.4 billion, a vindication for the smaller company, which toiled for two decades on an area largely neglected by the rest of the industry.

The analysis published today was conducted by accounting firm KPMG and the RAND Corporation with input from scientists. Further reports from the U.K.-commissioned panel will be published through the summer of 2016.

O’Neill, the former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is also a Bloomberg View columnist.