IDSA board member urges Congressional effort to stabilize antibiotic market, encourage new drugs

In testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Dr. Helen Boucher — treasurer for the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) — called for action to circumvent the growth of antimicrobial resistance.

“While bacteria develop resistance in nature, the use of antimicrobial drugs, including antibiotics, places selective pressure on microbes, including bacteria,” Boucher said. “This leads to bacteria and other microbes developing resistance to available antimicrobial drugs. Bacteria are also able to pass their resistance genes easily to one another, facilitating rapid spread of antibiotic resistance. Ultimately, some bacteria become utterly resistant to all known antibiotics. We fear that what is now uncommon will be common, effectively bringing us back to a pre-antibiotic era.”

She cited patients’ stories, as well as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data from 2013, noting that at least 2 million U.S. residents are hit by antibiotic resistant infections annually. Boucher added that it is a very conservative estimate. To combat this, she urged lawmaker to help federal agencies stabilize the antibiotic market and encourage both the development of new drugs and the protection of old ones.

Some patients can survive what seems to be the worst things can throw at them — things like cancer — and still be stricken down by resistant infections. Boucher calls such cases all too common. Further, the inability to treat infections that aren’t responding to their drugs imperils not just lives, but decades of medical development. Especially if such measures become weaponized, Boucher says national security will be put at severe risk.

Boucher hopes the exit of many from the antibiotic development field, whether it is due to cost or bankruptcy, can be calmed with incentives and investments to promote the appropriate use of antibiotics.