The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis Has a Troubling Twist
WiredDec 24, 2022
The Facts
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers have introduced legislation aimed at incentivizing drugmakers to develop antibiotics and antifungal drugs.
Bills that were proposed in the House and Senate on Thursday, if passed, would allocate $6B to the purchase of new drugs for the treatment of drug-resistant bacteria and fungi.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Market forces alone are not enough to ensure that essential drugs needed to protect public health will be produced. This legislation would guarantee that funds are made available to continue to develop and produce treatments for drug-resistant bacteria and fungi.
Establishment-critical narrative
While it is important to encourage pharmaceutical companies to produce antibiotics, this type of legislation is not the answer. It fails to set the minimum requirements of acceptable clinical trial standards and is essentially just a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry.
