WASHINGTON — House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle Wednesday stressed the importance of developing new antibiotics, though the draft bill they discussed did not include any of the specific incentives advocates say are necessary to promote such drug development.
Left to their own devices and the stimuli of the market, companies simply won’t develop the antibiotics the world needs. Infections resistant to the current supply of medicines kill tens of thousands of Americans each year, and many more worldwide. But these drugs can’t turn a huge profit, and the more they are used, the less effective they can become, making it difficult for companies to recoup their investment.
