SuperbugsBill would encourage development of drugs to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria

U.S Representatives Peter Roskam (R-Illinois) and Danny Davis (D-Illinois) joined five infectious disease experts last Thursday in Chicago to discuss the rise of superbugs. In March, Roskam and Davis introduced the Developing an Innovative Strategy for Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms Act, to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The initiative comes after thirty-eight patients at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois became infected with a superbug called CRE, or carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, last year.

In 2013, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that two million Americans are infected by antibiotic-resistant pathogens every year, and the pathogens cause 23,000 deaths annually.

“We’re fortunate to watch our Chicago Blackhawks win another playoff series, and they did that in front of 23,000 fans,” said Dr. Marc H. Scheetz, an infectious diseases pharmacist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “Imagine all of those fans dying annually from an antibiotics-resistant infection.”

The bill introduced by Roskam and Davis would give higher reimbursements to hospitals which use new drugs to combat superbugs, with the hope that pharmaceutical companies would be persuaded to develop new drugs. The Chicago Sun-Times notes that in 1990, about twenty pharmaceutical companies had large antibiotic research and development programs, but today only three large firms and a few small companies are investing in antibiotic research.

The proposed act would also require hospitals to report drug-resistant bacterial infections and their treatment to the CDC.

Dr. Sarah Sutton, an infectious disease physician and medical director at Northwestern, said the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria begins with doctors who are quick to prescribe antibiotics for simple ailments such as ear infections. According to the CDC, up to 50 percent of all antibiotics prescribed for people are unnecessary and are not effective as prescribed.

“Our country has a huge problem with antibiotics. We all have a part to play,” Sutton said. “The problem is every time you take an antibiotic, the bacteria that’s inside your body and on your skin and on the surface of your skin, inside your body, it changes. And the survivors after the antibiotic dose, many of them are going to be resistant. Already we have the setup of the potential of resistance.”