Under Waxman’s microscope
Executive Summary
Public health consequences of drug-resistant microbes will be examined Nov. 7 by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Reports about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus have focused public attention on the issue and may provide impetus for federal legislation. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced Oct. 31 an antimicrobial resistance bill that already is pending in the House (1"The Pink Sheet" Oct. 15, 2007, p. 9). The proposed law would improve "our grasp on resistance and ways to control it," notes Donald Peretz, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. IDSA has been urging Congress for several years to create incentives for the development of new drugs to fight microorganisms resistant to existing therapies...