Addressing the mounting threat of antimicrobial resistance

On Thursday, September 26th, the United Nations General Assembly will host a meeting on the growing threat that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses to people around the world. This marks an important moment in the fight to address AMR, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has deemed "one of the biggest threats to global health, food security and development today."

AMR is a natural process that occurs when harmful microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites develop the ability to survive against medications designed to kill them.

Here is a closer look at the impact of AMR:

What policy challenges do we see with AMR?

Although these drug-resistant superbugs evolve daily, the pipeline to develop new medications has not evolved and has even slowed in recent years. The inherent problem with establishing a robust pipeline for new antimicrobials is, unlike other medicines, the market is limited by design. That is because to slow the process of resistance, new medicines must only be used in a limited set of circumstances and in the most necessary cases, making it challenging for biopharmaceutical companies to successfully develop these much-needed medicines.

This is why federal policymakers from both political parties and experts in the medical community have increasingly vocalized the need to overcome this market failure and address the growing threat of AMR:

Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) - "If we do not address antimicrobial resistance, we will face a growing healthcare threat to our country."

Representative Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) - "As it stands right now, antibiotic-resistant infections can be extremely difficult to treat. AMR is often referred to as the silent pandemic and has become one of the biggest medical concerns today. The pipeline for AMR drugs has slowly been drying up due to various reasons that deserve our attention."

Thomas Heymann, President and CEO of the Sepsis Alliance - "While drug-resistant superbugs have evolved, our antimicrobials have not. With AMR causing even more sepsis deaths, we are at a pivotal point in the fight against AMR - we can't afford to wait to develop new medicines to combat superbugs."

What can be done?

AMR poses a major threat, especially to older adults but also to every person across the globe, regardless of age, gender, race or geographic location. The U.S. has made strides to address this issue, but more is needed to bolster the development pipeline of new medicines to combat superbugs.

The PASTEUR Act has emerged as a beacon of hope. Under the PASTEUR Act, the government would establish a guaranteed market for novel antimicrobial drugs once they're approved by the FDA. This bill has received bipartisan, bicameral support and is lauded by the scientific community and providers as a vital step in the fight against AMR.

As world leaders and policymakers convene to discuss this critical threat, the time to act is now. With effective policy and global collaboration, we can slow down and eventually reverse the rise of AMR around the world.

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