#41: Antibiotic Innovators vs Superbug Resistance

 We hear about it every day in the news to the point we start to ignore the talking heads.  We know it affects someone in the US every 11 seconds and leads to one death every 15 minutes.  Yes, I am talking about antibiotic resistant infections.  Huh?  You’re telling me you don’t hear about this every minute of every day?  Since the United Nations issued a report in April of 2019 titled, No Time To Wait: Securing The Future From Drug-Resistant Infections, claiming superbugs could kill 10 million people annually by 2050, maybe we should be hearing about this daily.  Depending upon which source you read, this is 3.5 to 10 times the number of people estimated to die world-wide from COVID by the end of 2021.  Speaking of that wonderful C bug with the S on it’s chest,  COVID has actually been a contributor to overuse of antibiotics.  In New York City last year during March and April, approximately 1700 people a day were hospitalized with COVID and 70 percent of these received an antibiotic.  According to the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, only about 3% to 8% had bacterial co-infections at the time of admission.   This is by no means a condemnation of those front-line providers as the hyper-inflammatory syndrome caused by COVID made it difficult to differentiate between bacterial and viral infections, however, it does bring to light how easy it is to overprescribe.

 Ironically the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR Act) is awaiting reintroduction to Congress this year.  This legislation would introduce a subscription type model for antibiotic innovators, to financially incentivize them into developing more superbug appropriate antibiotics, more quickly.  In 2019 $9.7 billion in private investment went into oncology research, compared to $132 million for antibiotic research.  This highlights where the profitability is, however severe infection and sepsis are among the most common reasons that cancer patients are admitted to intensive care units.  The CDC says 2.8 million Americans acquire serious infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, with 35,000 of them dying.  Without the knowledge of what specific pathogen is causing an infection many times non-specific systemic antibiotic use is or was the norm.  (None of our referring providers do that)  As a result, C. difficile has proliferated among the elderly.  CDC considers this an urgent threat as up to 15,000 people in America die from C. difficile every year.   

This antibiotic over-usage is a big problem that does not have a simple fix.  Testing for specific pathogens as well as using antibiotic resistant marker testing is one way to combat this pervasive problem.  As a molecular PCR lab, our goal is to be part of your team to help you make the best and most appropriate decisions you can in treating your patients.  This type of testing may be a paradigm shift for some of you, but we are here to make that easier.  Let us know what we can do to help you better serve your patients.  As always , we thank you for your business.  It is always appreciated.  

 

Lance Benedict

President/CEO Industry Lab Diagnostic Partners