A bipartisan group in Congress recently reintroduced the $6 billion Pasteur Act, a Netflix-like subscription model that would act as a financial incentive for research and development by pharmaceutical companies.While the legislation could address drug shortages, its main goal is to combat the global threat of drug-resistant pathogens.
David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of S.T.D. Directors, a trade association for public health associations, said rates of syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea are all surging “in part due to a public health landscape that is stretched dangerously thin, resulting in a lack of S.T.I. prevention, testing, and treatment.”
He and others criticized Pfizer for inadequate production of the drug given the decades-long rising trajectory of syphilis infections. But Pfizer’s spokesman, Mr. Danehy, said the company had invested $38 million in its Michigan plant to improve manufacturing after a previous shortage of Bicillin in 2017.
Mr. Harvey also denounced the Biden administration for agreeing in the debt ceiling deal to slash $400 million from the C.D.C.’s budget for S.T.I. prevention.
To stretch the Bicillin supply, the C.D.C. recommends that doctors give preference to pregnant patients and infected or exposed infants. Other patients should instead be prescribed doxycycline for two to four weeks, depending on the disease stage. But experts expressed worry that such individuals, including the partners of pregnant women, might have trouble sticking to the twice-daily pill regimen, potentially compromising its effectiveness.
Eric Tichy, division chair of supply chain management at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said Pfizer likely stands alone in producing Bicillin for the U.S. market because of the considerable complexity and expense of manufacturing the drug.
But other experts objected to Pfizer’s pricing practices. “Here’s a prime example of why leaving public health to the free market can be disastrous,” Tim Horn, director of medication access at the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, an advocacy group, said in an email.
Sumber: www.nytimes.com
