Experts say the increasing public health threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is already putting vulnerable patients at risk, but Congress could step in to help.
Testifying on July 11 before members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Melinta Therapeutics President and CEO Christine Ann Miller noted that the issue was not far off down the road but a very present concern.
“In the United States, AMR is the third-leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer,” said Ms. Miller, whose company develops novel antibiotics to treat antibiotic-resistant infections.
“Things have gotten worse since the pandemic in 2020,” she said. “Hospital-acquired, drug-resistant infections and deaths jumped 15 percent as COVID erased years of progress in the fight against superbugs,” or bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics….