October 2015

This week, the President's Advisory Council on Antibiotic Resistance held its first convening meeting in Washington, DC. The council, chaired by Martin Blaser, M.D., Director of Human Microbiome Program at NYU School of Medicine and composed mainly of 15 non-governmental experts in infectious diseases and animal health, was established by the President's Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (CARB) initiative, launched in September 2014.

After hearing framing remarks by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director John Holdren, the Council heard presentations from federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration, (FDA), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) on progress towards the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria goals, which are:

• Slow the Emergence of Resistance Bacteria and Prevent the Spread of Resistant Infections
• Strengthen National One-Health Surveillance Efforts to Combat Resistance
• Advance Development and Use of Rapid and Innovative Diagnostic Tests for identification and Characterization of Resistant Bacteria
• Accelerate Basic and Applied Research and Development for New Antibiotics, Other Therapeutics, and Vaccines
• Improve International Collaboration and Capacities for Antibiotic Resistance Prevention, Surveillance, Control and Antibiotic Research and Development.

MTPI Assembly chair Richard Wunderink, M.D., provided public comment to the Advisory Council on behalf of the ATS. Dr. Wunderink urged the Council to engage with the pulmonary and critical care community, expedite research and development into new diagnostics for pneumonia and for the Council to support the implementation of the forthcoming National Action Plan to Combat Drug Resistant Tuberculosis.