Young, Bennet Introduce PASTEUR Act to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) introduced the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act to encourage innovative drug development targeting the most threatening infections, improve the appropriate use of antibiotics and antifungals, and ensure domestic availability of critical antibiotics when needed.
“Superbugs have become a growing public health crisis in recent years,” said Senator Young. “As antimicrobial resistance has spread, market failures have resulted in a lack of needed research and development. Our bill would incentivize the advancement of new innovative antibiotics and focus on educating health care providers on how to avoid overprescribing of these life-saving medications in order to slow the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.”
“Right now, we don’t have the tools to address the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance and infectious disease experts are warning us that it will only get worse,” said Senator Bennet. “The bipartisan PASTEUR Act is one of the strongest bills ever written to strengthen antibiotic development and use. It will help fix our market failures, expand the pipeline for next generation antibiotics, and save lives. We can’t sit on our hands as the next public health crisis arrives. We have to act now.”
“Antimicrobial resistance increasingly threatens the health of Americans at home and abroad,” said Senator Gillibrand. “By combining public and private investment to strengthen the pipeline of innovative, effective antibiotics, the PASTEUR Act will help ensure that patients receive the most impactful treatment available. I am proud to introduce this essential and comprehensive legislation to help prevent future public health crises and ensure every American has access to safe, lifesaving medications.”
“America is at risk of a public health crisis in the coming years due to the continued development of new strains of bacteria and viruses that are resistant to common antimicrobial drugs,” said Senator Rounds. “Our legislation would incentivize development of new antibiotics and prevent the overuse and misuse of many antimicrobial medicines on the market today.”
“Superbugs are outsmarting our current defenses,” said Senator Hickenlooper. “We need to make new antibiotics and antifungals now, before a drug-resistant outbreak turns into a public health emergency.”
Antimicrobials, including antibiotics and antifungals, are medicines used to treat and prevent infections in humans, animals, and plants. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria and fungi mutate and no longer respond to these medicines. As a result, treating infections becomes much harder, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death. In the United States, more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur each year, resulting in over 35,000 deaths. A 2022 CDC special report found that the United States reversed its progress on AMR during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and antimicrobial-resistant infections and deaths increased in hospitals by at least 15 percent. The estimated national cost to treat infections caused by the most common multidrug-resistant germs in health care is more than $4.6 billion annually, and recent analyses estimate that the broader impact of superbugs on the U.S. economy could reach tens of billions of dollars each year.
The AMR crisis has been further exacerbated by a lack of new drug development due to reduced economic incentives and challenging regulatory requirements, creating a severe market failure. In recent years, many of the innovative antibiotic companies working to develop new antimicrobials have filed for bankruptcy and stopped producing these innovative antibiotics completely.
The PASTEUR Act seeks to address this market failure and increase public health preparedness by keeping novel antimicrobials on the market and improving appropriate use across the health care system. While current contracts between the government and drug makers base payment on volume, the PASTEUR Actwould establish a subscription-style model which would offer antibiotic developers predictable payments in exchange for access to their antibiotics, encouraging innovation and ensuring our health care system is prepared to treat resistant infections.
Young and Bennet first introduced the PASTEUR ACT in 2020, then again in 2021and 2023.
See the full legislative text here.