Many are familiar with being prescribed common antibiotics like penicillin to treat a scraped knee that gets infected or strep throat. However, the rapid rise of “superbugs,” or strains of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, poses a serious risk to all and our national health care system. Without the development of new antibiotics to treat resistant bacteria, the infections we are able to easily treat today could become untreatable. Congress must act now and support the development of new antibiotics.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) refers to a phenomenon where germs like bacteria and fungi are able to develop the ability to defeat the antibiotics designed to combat them. As a result, our current supply of antibiotics has become ineffective in targeting superbugs and infections are more likely to persist in a patient, increasing both health risks for the infected individual, as well as the risk of spreading the infection to others. Once a lesser known health threat, AMR has skyrocketed in recent years, with the World Health Organization (WHO) classifying it as a top ten global health threat.
In the U.S., more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur annually – leading to over 35,000 deaths. AMR places a significant burden on our local health care system as well, creating the need for more expensive and intensive care and typically leading to prolonged hospital stays.
The U.S. lost progress combatting AMR due, in part, to the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased antibiotic use to treat the virus led to a sharp uptick of resistant infections, and hospitals saw more healthcare-associated, resistant infections. In addition, hospital staffing shortages, protective equipment supply challenges, and longer patient visits all contributed to widespread resistant infections. By 2050, the United Nations (UN) estimates that up to 10 million deaths globally could be caused by resistant infections, matching the annual global death rate of cancer. Without new antibiotics to combat AMR, our communities will remain at risk for severe infections.
However, bringing a new medication from a laboratory to a pharmacy counter requires a significant financial undertaking and, especially for antibiotics, is not always economically viable. New antibiotics are not designed to be widely prescribed and are instead only used against infections resistant to current treatments – meaning that many antibiotic developers may not be able to recoup the resources to support the significant costs of medication research and development needed to bring a new medication to market. Many antibiotic developers have filed for bankruptcy because our market is not set up to adequately support new antibiotic development – all while rates of resistant infections continue to multiply.
To help address AMR and safeguard public health, Congress has an opportunity to effectively address rising rates of resistant infections. The Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act is bipartisan legislation that would incentivize innovative drug development targeting life-threatening infections and improve the appropriate use of antibiotics. The PASTEUR Act is critical to ensuring that our communities are adequately prepared to combat AMR – the legislation would set up a system where the government would pay a set fee upfront for access to antibiotics that address challenging public health needs. Antibiotic developers wouldn’t have to worry about the financial strains of bringing a new medication to market, and our communities would have the tools needed to treat AMR. In addition, the legislation contains measures to improve appropriate antibiotic use and ensure that antibiotics are not overused, mitigating the potential of bacteria to become resistant to new treatments.
As AMR continues to worsen, we’re in desperate need of new antibiotics to address resistant infections across the country. It’s up to Congress to support the PASTEUR Act and facilitate the development of new antibiotics. Our communities need protection against superbugs – and we’re counting on our lawmakers to act now.
Dr. Michael Dailey is a board-certified infectious disease and internal medicine specialist in Roswell, Georgia. He is the founder of Infectious Disease Services of Georgia.
