White House Launches Attack On Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

The White House is ramping up the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria with a national strategy, a directive to federal agencies, recommendations from an advisory group, and a $20 million prize.

The actions, announced on Sept. 18, aim to show that the Administration is serious about curbing the rise of deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria while beefing up the pipeline of new antibiotics and diagnostics. But some public health advocates say the measures do not go far enough, particularly with respect to reducing the use of antibiotics in food animals.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are associated with an estimated 23,000 deaths and 2 million infections in people each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. White House officials say the situation is a “growing crisis” and a threat to national security and the economy.

The Obama Administration’s strategy seeks to strengthen U.S. capabilities for identifying and reporting cases of antibiotic resistance by 2020. Enhanced surveillance of antimicrobial resistance will draw on cutting-edge genetic sequencing technologies, says Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health. The strategy also aims to accelerate the development of new antibiotics and diagnostics over the next five years.

Obama has ordered a task force, cochaired by the secretaries of the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, and Health & Human Services (HHS), to submit a detailed action plan for implementation of the strategy by February 2015. Already, HHS, the NIH parent agency, says it will award a prize of up to $20 million to the first group that develops a rapid, point-of-care diagnostic tool for identifying drug-resistant bacterial infections in real time. “Having a diagnostic tool of this nature will equip health care providers with a critically needed tool to guide their usage of antibiotics and promote responsible use of antibiotics,” Collins says.

A new report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST), a group of leading scientists and engineers, recommends improving surveillance and preventing the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria through more judicious use of antibiotic therapies. What’s more, the advisers urge accelerating the development and Food & Drug Administration approval of new antibiotics.

Some public health groups and lawmakers are disappointed by the PCAST report. Keep Antibiotics Working, a coalition of consumer groups, says the recommendations related to practices in animal agriculture “fall dangerously short.” PCAST recommends a wait-and-see strategy instead of addressing “overuse of antibiotics for disease prevention and the farming practices that create the need for them,” the group says. Many commercial farms feed low doses of antibiotics to animals such as chickens and cows to spur their growth.

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.), a microbiologist, also expressed disappointment with the PCAST recommendations. She says FDA will continue to rely on pharmaceutical companies to curb antibiotic use on farms by voluntarily changing the labels on their antibiotics.

“Asking industry to change labels is not enough to protect human health,” she said. Slaughter has introduced H.R. 1150, a bill which would restrict eight critical classes of antibiotics so they are only used for treating disease.