US President's science panel advises on antibiotic resistance

Abstract

Since its reformation 5 years ago, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST; panel) has grappled with some of the most difficult scientific controversies, including climate change and cybersecurity. In the next few weeks, the council will issue recommendations for controlling antibiotic resistance. “Antibiotic-resistant infections are associated with an additional 23 000 deaths in the USA each year”, Eric Lander, the report’s cochair, told The Lancet. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that the economic effect of antibiotic-resistant infections is at least US$50 billion annually in direct health-care costs and lost productivity. PCAST focused on three strategies to address the growing problem: better control through “stewardship” of antibiotic use, improved surveillance of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and the development of new, more eff ective antibiotics. The 21-member council unanimously approved the report’s conclusions in July, following an hour-long discussion led by Lander, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University’s Broad Institute and professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School, MA, USA. The yearly death toll from antibioticresistant infections is roughly equivalent to one jumbo jet crash every week, as John Rex, AstraZeneca’s head of infection, global medicines development, reminded attendees of a conference on antimicrobial agents and infectious disease in Washington, DC, earlier this month. The UK-based drug maker was among several organisations providing input into the PCAST report, Rex told The Lancet. But even when implemented, the PCAST recommendations might have limited eff ect, Lander warned at the July meeting. “There is no permanent victory against microbes”, he said. “If you use antibiotics, whether in human health care or in agriculture, you will over time see resistance.”