An Update on the Pasteur Act

The Pasteur Act has been in Congress for a few years now, seemingly in a holding pattern. This bill authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enter into subscription contracts for critical-need antimicrobial drugs, provides $6 billion in appropriations for activities under the bill, and contains other related provisions.¹ Last year, Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Todd Young (R-IN) and Representatives Drew Ferguson (R-GA) and Scott Peters (D-CA), reintroduced the Pasteur Act in Congress. The bill was initially introduced in Congress by Bennet and Young in September 2020; the pair, along with Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Ferguson, then reintroduced the bill in June 2021.

After the bill’s reintroduction last year, 5 national organizations—the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease, and The Pew Charitable Trusts—issued a statement on the topic. “Antimicrobial resistance is not a partisan issue. It is an increasingly challenging public health emergency that reverberates far beyond just health care settings. Every 15 minutes, a person in the United States dies from an infection resistant to treatment with existing antimicrobial drugs. This means that since PASTEUR’s last introduction on June 16, 2021, more than 64,000 Americans have died because they did not have adequate medications to treat their infections,” part of the statement read.

This week, at the World AMR Congress, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Amanda Jezek, the senior vice president for Public Policy and Government Relations at IDSA, is participating in sessions, serving as chairperson of Impact, Policy, and Awareness, as well as participating on a panel around antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

In between activities at the meeting, Jezek sat down with Contagion to offer some Washington insider updates on the prospective bill, as well as provide feedback about ongoing AMR initiatives that IDSA is working on.

Jezek does believe the Pasteur Act will pass and says it is better to do so now than deal with the consequences of increased mortality rates and the inability to perform procedures due to concerns over AMR. “I think it has to; the stakes are too high,” Jezek said. “Right now we are trying to convince Congress to do the right thing, and pass this while we have a little bit of lead time to protect modern medicine.”

Jezek says that along with being a major supporter of the Congressional bill, IDSA is involved in other AMR-related activities including the US national plan to address AMR, and the United Nation’s meeting at the end of this month looking at AMR and a One Health approach. “IDSA has been really excited to have multiple opportunities to be able to brief UN leaders and other experts who are involved in this process.”

Reference
1. Summary: S.1355 — 118th Congress (2023-2024). Congress.gov. Accessed September 5, 2024. https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1355