Whether through overuse of antibiotics, inadequate infection prevention or natural evolution, bacteria, fungi, and other germs can become impervious to the very drugs meant to kill them. These antibiotic-resistant pathogens result in millions of infections and thousands of deaths every year in the United States. Globally, these infections are approaching a dangerous high, with some reports predicting that if significant advancements aren’t made, these infections could kill more people than cancer by 2050.
What threats do antibiotic-resistant superbugs pose for the future, and how has COVID-19 informed our approach to pandemic preparedness? What is being done to develop new antibiotics and bring life-saving drugs to market? How can we ensure these drugs are appropriately prescribed and used? And how can policymakers stimulate innovative drug developments to keep pace with evolving diseases?
Join The Hill on May 24 to discuss tackling the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing threat, and there are signs that the COVID-19 crisis has been exacerbating this “silent pandemic.” New antibiotics are urgently needed, but they are not being developed.
The Pew Charitable Trusts works to advance policies that help preserve the effectiveness of existing antibiotics and spur the creation of new ones. Pew, together with public health and national security leaders from around the world, has long advocated for policies such as the bipartisan PASTEUR Act, that address the fundamentally broken market for these life-saving drugs. Passage of the PASTEUR Act would be a significant step forward in jump-starting the development of new types of antibiotics that are essential to protecting Americans, today and in the future.
