A bipartisan Senate bill introduced this month would direct the National Institutes of Health to support a clinical research network built specifically to speed trials of new antibiotics, addressing a bottleneck that has left resistant infections outpacing the drugs available to treat them.
The Stop Superbugs Act, introduced by Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Roger Marshall of Kansas, would authorize the NIH's Antimicrobial Resistance Leadership Group to facilitate clinical trials for new antibiotics. Marshall, a physician, framed the stakes plainly: "We've made incredible progress because of antibiotics, but they're only valuable if they still work." He added that the bill helps strengthen the research network and clinical trials needed to speed new treatments from the lab to the bedside.
