Bipartisan legislation recently re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would prepare the United States for future pandemics.
The Saving Us from Pandemic Era Resistance by Building a Unified Global Strategy (SUPER BUGS) Act would direct the Department of Health and Human Services to fight superbugs, pathogens resistant to treatment. The department would do this in consultation with the U.S. Department of State and would coordinate with foreign countries and other entities on the development and commercialization of new antimicrobial drugs, diagnostics, and other products.
Antimicrobial resistance is making many antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitic medicines less effective, making infections that were once easily treatable increasingly difficult to manage. Annually, at least 2.8 million Americans die from antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Only 11 antibiotics in the global clinical development pipeline as of December 2018 were developed to target superbugs. Antimicrobial medicines generate lower long-term revenue compared to drugs for chronic conditions and are not attractive investments for pharmaceutical developers.
U.S. Reps. Mike Levin (D-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA) re-introduced the bill.
The bill has the endorsement of numerous organizations including the American Society of Microbiology, Global Health Technologies Coalition, American Public Health Association, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Sepsis Alliance, Treatment Action Group, and IAVI.