Eshoo Introduces Bill to Safeguard Public Health

Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), along with Reps. Phil Gingrey, M.D., (R-GA), Gene Green (D-
TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Eliot Engel (D-NY), John Shimkus (R-
IL), and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) yesterday introduced H.R. 3742, the Antibiotic Development to
Advance Patient Treatment (ADAPT) Act of 2013. This legislation is a successor to the GAIN
Act, introduced by the same group of lawmakers and signed into law last year. The ADAPT Act
advances drug development in order to combat the growing public health threat of “superbugs,”
which the Center for Disease Control (CDC) warned of earlier this year.

“This bill is an important next step in in our effort to address antibiotic resistance,” said Rep.
Eshoo. “Patients are in need of new drugs to treat increasingly common infections and it’s
critical that we stay a step ahead of the next drug-resistant threat. The ADAPT Act will help us
get there.”

About the legislation
The ADAPT Act of 2013 is the successor to the GAIN Act and advances drug development in
three ways:

    1.) Develops a new, accelerated pathway for antibiotics and antifungals
         This pathway provides for FDA-approval of drugs in order to treat emerging threats in
         limited and specific patient populations.

    2.) Strengthen resistance monitoring by the CDC
          The CDC will also monitor use of antibiotics to treat serious and life-threatening
          infections and make this data publically available to providers, hospitals, and academics.

    3.) Update Susceptibility Test Interpretive Criteria for Microbial Organisms or
         “breakpoints.” The ADAPT Act streamlines the antibiotics labeling process at the FDA
          to ensure up-to-date and cutting-edge data is available on drug labels.
 

A copy of the bill can be found here.

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