The $6 Billion Shot at Making New Antibiotics—Before the Old Ones Fail

A stay-at- home dad, Brown is 36 years old, married, and has a slight dark hair. He moved away from his family in Kentucky to be with his wife and child. Not even adolescence. Brown has a condition called cystic fibrosis, which causes mucus to build up in major organs and can lead to infections. He wasn't expected to survive past elementary school when he was born.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fast-tracked a new drug combination to address the effects of the underlying genetic mutation, but also to hard work. The disease's worst effects are kept down by a tailored regimen of exercises, supplements, and pharmaceuticals. He uses a catheter to get antibiotics through a vein into his heart. Taking care of his health is a full time job for Brown.

He is still losing. Brown has a Pseudomonas aeruginosa in his lungs that can cause serious infections. If that simmering occupation flares up into pneumonia, the results could be deadly due to the fact that Brown's strain is fully resistant to four antibiotics and partially resistant to two more. Brown tried the last antibiotic the organisms respond to. It was life threatening.

He wants to know what will be done if all the medicines run out. It is frightening when you have a family. It can happen in the back of your mind.

If there were other options, the collapse of Brown's treatment could be avoided. There are no new antibiotics that doctors can give him. Antibiotic innovation has stopped in the US In 1984 the last novel class was approved.

The Pasteur Act, named for the 19th century microbiologist, could repopulate that empty landscape by guaranteeing government funds to help a small number of people. The proposal has bipartisan support in both the House and Senate and was endorsed in the last White House budget.

Drug company personnel as well as independent analysts say the measure is critical. The Congress that convenes this week will be distracted by races that are not resolved. Before their session ends around Christmas Eve, the body will have to make decisions on a number of legislative proposals that were delayed earlier in the year. The Pasteur Act will need to be reintroduced in January if it can't get through by then. It will be hard for other issues to break through in that session because it will be focused on the election.