More than 230 organizations representing healthcare providers, public health professionals, scientists, and the pharmaceutical and diagnostics industries have sent a letter to Congress urging support for the PASTEUR (Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance) Act.
The legislation, which was originally introduced in 2020 and then reintroduced in 2021, would create a subscription-style payment model that would allow the federal government to pay up-front for access to newly approved antibiotics that target drug-resistant infections and meet critical, unmet health needs. Intended as one solution to the financial challenges that have resulted in a weak pipeline of new antibiotics, the bill has yet to pass through Congress, despite bipartisan support and a growing recognition that antimicrobial resistance is a significant health threat.
Supporters say passing the bill is critical for ensuring that patients who are susceptible to infections have access to new antibiotics and that the US government is prepared for future public health threats that involve drug-resistant infections, including pandemics, natural disasters, outbreaks, and bioterror attacks.
"PASTEUR would increase our nation's resilience by strengthening the antibacterial and antifungal pipeline to ensure clinicians and other medical professionals have the innovative products they need to treat patients, and ensuring antimicrobials are used appropriately," the groups wrote to the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. "Every day we wait to address the crisis in the antimicrobial ecosystem is another year patients and providers must wait to have access to life-saving medicines."
PASTEUR would increase our nation's resilience by strengthening the antibacterial and antifungal pipeline.
While antibiotics are essential for much of modern medicine, companies don't make much money from them because they are only used for short periods. The hope is that the model outlined in PASTEUR would help solve this problem by providing a stable return on investment and by de-linking pharmaceutical companies' profits from the volume of antibiotics sold. It also includes requirements for ensuring appropriate use.
The letter suggests PASTEUR, which is unlikely to be passed as a stand-alone bill, could be included in the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act.