U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam (R-IL) and Danny Davis (D-IL) stood together to introduce the Developing an Innovative Strategy for Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms (DISARM) Act on Thursday.
The legislation, H.R. 512, is designed to address the shortage of advanced antibiotic drugs that are required to fight “superbugs,” infections that are resistant and unresponsive to normal medicines.
“In every corner of the world, drug-resistant infections have skyrocketed, and yet the development of new antibiotics has steadily decreased over the past 20 years,” Roskam said. “These superbugs threaten modern medicine as we know it. Not only could a common scrape become infected with a strain of drug-resistant bacteria and turn potentially deadly, but advanced procedures that rely on antibiotics to avoid infection–from chemotherapy to open heart surgery–could become too risky to even perform. I am proud to introduce the DISARM Act and continue working to prevent the next public health crisis.”
The DISARM Act will work to modernize how the health care system treats the production of antibiotics, revitalizing the stream of drugs being developed and making sure the market for new antibiotics is robust.
“The (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the (National Institutes of Health), and other leading national and international scientific bodies have expressed growing concern about the rapid spread of antibiotic resistance,” Davis said. “Antibiotic resistance stems from a variety of causes ranging from genetic mutations to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans and the resulting selective evolutionary pressures on bacteria.”
Currently Medicare only reimburses medical facilities for inexpensive antibiotics such as amoxicillin, penicillin and azithromycin. More advanced, stronger medicines can cost millions of dollars for development. Hospitals are forced to shy away from the stronger medicines to prevent financial loss.
Most medical professionals support the opinion that eliminating the financial burden is critical to promoting the development of more effective antibiotic drugs.
“We must encourage the research and development of new medicines to fight drug-resistant infections that cause approximately 2 million illnesses, 23,000 deaths and about $65 billion in direct and indirect cost annually to the economy,” Davis said. “It is my hope that this legislation will become a part of a comprehensive, evidence-based response to this emerging threat.”