Advocacy - Comment Letter
Dear Representative Carter:
The Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) endorses your legislation, H.R.7352, the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance Act of 2026 or the “PASTEUR Act of 2026. This legislation, if enacted, would establish a new federal initiative to incentivize the development and judicious use of antibiotics to combat the increasing number of drug-resistant infections that contribute to the death of 35,000 Americans annually.
Specifically, H.R.7352 would provide financial assistance to eligible drug manufacturers to develop and bring new antibiotics to market. In recent years, some companies have gone bankrupt while others have stopped developing these drugs over their inability to recoup their investment. This bill seeks to create a stable and predictable business environment to encourage manufacturers to continue to develop these vital drugs.
The bill also emphasizes the need to properly manage and oversee the use of novel antibiotics. The Pasteur Act would require that diagnostic test manufacturers have access to a sufficient supply of new antimicrobials to create susceptibility testing devices that can be used to determine which antibiotics are likely to be effective against a particular organism and at what levels.
Clinical laboratories would play a central role in this process. These testing facilities would generate data that indicates the level of resistance to the antibiotic, the frequency for which it is used, and provide invaluable insights into the effectiveness of the antimicrobial that can inform both local treatment decisions and national reporting systems (e.g., National Healthcare Safety Network).
H.R.7352 would also provide grants to support antimicrobial stewardship programs, particularly in rural and critical-access hospitals, that rely on laboratory expertise to inform many of their stewardship goals. ADLM looks forward to working with you to enact this vital legislation.
ADLM is a global scientific and medical professional organization dedicated to clinical laboratory science and its application to healthcare. ADLM brings together clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, microbiology, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of clinical laboratory science to advance healthcare collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation.
If you have any questions, please email Vince Stine, PhD, ADLM’s Senior Director of Government and Global Affairs, at [email protected], or Evan Fortman, MPA, ADLM’s Manager of Government Affairs at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Paul J. Jannetto, Ph.D., DABCC, FAACC
President, ADLM