Paul Plummer, DVM, Ph.D., DACVIM, DECSRHM
Chair, Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Dear Dr. Plummer:
°®¶¹´«Ã½ (ASM), whose mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences, is one of the oldest and largest single life science societies, with 36,000 members in the U.S. and around the world. We appreciate this opportunity to inform recommendations on how federal agencies can lead global AMR efforts for sustained action. With our Global Public Health Programs and international membership, ASM can play a leading role in identifying global policy challenges and build local expertise that can lead to scalable and sustainable solutions.
ASM has developed a set of policy recommendations to combat AMR through a One Health lens. For the sake of brevity, this letter provides brief summaries of our top-line recommendations for global AMR policy that support Goal 5 of the U.S. National Action Plan. We encourage the members of the committee to review the full ASM policy paper online. Our top-line policy recommendations for U.S. engagement in global AMR policy are as follows:
Support and consistently fund CDC’s global health programs and the Antibiotic Resistance Solutions Initiative. This includes the AR Lab Network, which was authorized in 2022 to focus on global laboratory capacity to provide technical assistance to countries around the world to address AMR.
Sustain consistent funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s global health security programs, including PEPFAR, which assist with addressing AMR and other pathogens for which we have seen highly resistant strains emerge.
Study and promote wastewater infrastructure and intelligence to reduce the emergence of AMR in LMICs.
Provide technical assistance through the U.S. State Department to researchers navigating Nagoya Protocol requirements to promote the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources.
Address the gap between drug discovery and product development to encourage continued research, development and introduction of new antimicrobials.
Advance policies that encourage global availability of new diagnostics and implementation of updated antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) breakpoints.
Microbes know no borders, and aligning U.S. domestic policy with the global policy infrastructure is critical to mitigating AMR. ASM appreciates the opportunity to provide input and we stand ready to engage our global membership in the fight against AMR. If you have any questions please contact Amalia Corby, Interim Director of Federal Affairs, at acorby@asmusa.org.
Sincerely,
Stacey L. Schultz-Cherry, Ph.D.
Chair, ASM Public and Scientific Affairs Committee
