PACCARB—the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria—released new recommendations outlining how we can better prepare for future pandemics and the growing problem of drug resistance. Here’s the scoop.
Why it matters: Antimicrobial resistance is “a material threat to the health of all Americans, even in the absence of a pandemic,” says PACCARB, directly responsible for 1.2 million deaths worldwide in 2019 with the potential to kill as many as 10 million per year by 2050.
The report:Last year, Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra tasked PACCARB with developing recommendations for “how existing pandemic preparedness policies may be augmented to address AMR, and whether additional policies or programs may be needed to be best prepared for a large-scale outbreak of a resistant pathogen.”
PACCARB outlines 14 total recommendations, which focus on:
- equity, trust, and communication
- infection prevention and control
- antimicrobial stewardship
- workforce expansion
- data sharing and security
- medical countermeasures and product innovation
Developing new products—including “novel antimicrobials, vaccines, diagnostics, and threat-agnostic platform technologies focused on resistant bacterial and fungal pathogens” is essential.
A key recommendation: AMR has not received a Material Threat Determination (MTD), but the designation would “help accelerate the development, procurement, and availability of effective [medical countermeasures] to combat AMR,” says PACCARB.
P.S. Shoutout to Emily Wheeler, Director of Infectious Disease Policy at BIO (and resident AMR expert), for completing her term of service as BIO’s designated representative on the PACCARB!
