Pew, 3 Health Organizations Call for Better Data to Improve Antibiotic Use

Pew joined with the American Society for Microbiology, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the medical technology company Becton Dickinson & Co. on a letter sent Oct. 26 to leaders of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The letter calls for legislation that would help ensure that health care providers have access to timely and accurate “breakpoint” data, which help determine which antibiotics a bacterial infection will be susceptible to.

Up-to-date breakpoint data are essential to selecting drugs that will provide the most effective treatments for bacterial infections. This is important for patients, who need the right antibiotic at the right time, and for the public, which will benefit as improved antibiotic selection slows the emergence of resistant pathogens.