Bennet, Young, Colleagues Reintroduce Bipartisan PASTEUR Act to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance

Jun 24, 2026 | Press Releases

Denver - Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.), alongside Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), and John Hickenlooper reintroduced the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act to encourage innovative drug development targeting the most threatening infections, improve the appropriate use of antibiotics and antifungals, and ensure domestic availability of critical antibiotics when needed.

"Right now, we don't have the tools to address the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance and infectious disease experts are warning us that it will only get worse," said Bennet. "The bipartisan PASTEUR Act is one of the strongest bills ever written to strengthen antibiotic development and use. It will help fix our market failures, expand the pipeline for next generation antibiotics, and save lives. We can't sit on our hands as the next public health crisis arrives. We have to act now."

"Superbugs have become a growing public health crisis in recent years," said Young. "As antimicrobial resistance has spread, market failures have resulted in a lack of needed research and development. Our bill would incentivize the advancement of new innovative antibiotics and focus on educating health care providers on how to avoid overprescribing of these life-saving medications in order to slow the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens."

"Antimicrobial resistance increasingly threatens the health of Americans at home and abroad," said Gillibrand. "By combining public and private investment to strengthen the pipeline of innovative, effective antibiotics, the PASTEUR Act will help ensure that patients receive the most impactful treatment available. I am proud to introduce this essential and comprehensive legislation to help prevent future public health crises and ensure every American has access to safe, lifesaving medications."

"America is at risk of a public health crisis in the coming years due to the continued development of new strains of bacteria and viruses that are resistant to common antimicrobial drugs," said Rounds. "Our legislation would incentivize development of new antibiotics and prevent the overuse and misuse of many antimicrobial medicines on the market today."

Superbugs are outsmarting our current defenses," said Hickenlooper. "We need to make new antibiotics and antifungals now, before a drug-resistant outbreak turns into a public health emergency."

Antimicrobials, including antibiotics and antifungals, are medicines used to treat and prevent infections in humans, animals, and plants. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria and fungi mutate and no longer respond to these medicines. As a result, treating infections becomes much harder, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death. In the United States, more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur each year, resulting in over 35,000 deaths. A 2022 CDC special report found that the United States reversed its progress on AMR during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and antimicrobial-resistant infections and deaths increased in hospitals by at least 15 percent. The estimated national cost to treat infections caused by the most common multidrug-resistant germs in health care is more than $4.6 billion annually, and recent analyses estimate that the broader impact of superbugs on the U.S. economy could reach tens of billions of dollars each year.

The AMR crisis has been further exacerbated by a lack of new drug development due to reduced economic incentives and challenging regulatory requirements, creating a severe market failure. In recent years, many of the innovative antibiotic companies working to develop new antimicrobials have filed for bankruptcy and stopped producing these innovative antibiotics completely.

The PASTEUR Act seeks to address this market failure and increase public health preparedness by keeping novel antimicrobials on the market and improving appropriate use across the health care system. While current contracts between the government and drug makers base payment on volume, the PASTEUR Act would establish a subscription-style model which would offer antibiotic developers predictable payments in exchange for access to their antibiotics, encouraging innovation and ensuring our health care system is prepared to treat resistant infections.

Specifically, the PASTEUR Act would:

• Establish a Federal Subscription Model that provides annual payments to developers of eligible antibiotics and antifungals. Contract values range from $75 million to $300 million per year, with terms up to 10 years or until a generic or biosimilar enters the market. The annual predictable, set level of payment for a given product would be reduced by net revenues the manufacturer makes from its product each year, ensuring no more federal support is provided than necessary to provide a predictable return on investment.
• Use a Transparent Scoring System to determine eligibility and contract value, rewarding products that address urgent threats and unmet medical needs and that demonstrate major clinical and public health benefits.
• Establish a Critical Need Antimicrobial Advisory Group, consisting of infectious disease physicians, antimicrobial resistance and R&D experts, and patient advocates to guide the design of the program.
• Set Terms & Conditions of the subscription contracts that would require developers to ensure commercial availability, reliable supply, public reporting of resistance data, implementation of stewardship and education plans, adherence to manufacturing and environmental best practices, and completion of post-market studies.
• Support Antimicrobial Stewardship and Surveillance by funding pilot programs for expanding stewardship efforts, including in outpatient settings (e.g. urgent care, retail clinics) and build on existing frameworks to enhance data collection on antibiotic use, resistance, and diagnostics through the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network and other surveillance systems.

"Antimicrobial resistance presents a growing threat to modern medicine, yet the pipeline for new antimicrobial therapies continues to shrink. To stay ahead of drug-resistant infections, we must create an environment that supports innovation and encourages companies to invest in the research and development of new antimicrobial medicines. Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA) has long advocated for policies that support scientific progress, foster investment, and accelerate the development of lifesaving treatments. We thank Senator Michael Bennet for his leadership on the reintroduction of the bipartisan PASTEUR Act. CBSA urges Congress to take swift action. By addressing antimicrobial resistance today, we can help protect patients and preserve the effectiveness of these essential medicines for future generations," said Elyse Blazevich, President & CEO of the Colorado BioScience Association.

"Danaher, with over 1000 employees and seven facilities across Colorado and Indiana; applauds Senator Bennet and Senator Young's leadership in the introduction of the PASTEUR Act in the Senate and its explicit recognition of the critical role diagnostics play in addressing antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest public health threats facing the world today and poses a direct risk to U.S. health and national security. Addressing this threat requires not only a sustainable ecosystem for the development of novel antibiotics, but also strong diagnostic stewardship, including rapid and accurate diagnostics that ensure the right treatment reaches the right patient at the right time. By empowering clinicians with timely, actionable data, we can improve patient outcomes, safeguard antibiotic effectiveness, and meaningfully mitigate the growing AMR threat," said Ephraim Tsalik, MD, PhD; CSO, Infectious Disease and Acute Care of Danaher Diagnostics.

"The Senate's introduction of the PASTEUR Act of 2026 is a critical step toward rekindling private investment in one of the most essential yet neglected fields of medicine. The market for antibiotics is fundamentally broken. Antimicrobial resistance harms millions of Americans each year and is rapidly eroding the foundations of modern medicine. The PASTEUR Act will help reverse that trend by creating a predictable pathway for investment, enabling the development of urgently needed antimicrobials, and ensuring every American has access to the treatments they need," said Henry Skinner, PhD, CEO of the AMR Action Fund.

"Moving the PASTEUR Act of 2026 forward marks meaningful progress in tackling one of our most serious public health crises. Antimicrobial resistance continues to grow every day and leaves patients fighting infections with dwindling treatment options. PASTEUR takes an important step toward restoring a sustainable antimicrobial ecosystem by promoting a model that encourages the development of innovative therapies against the most dangerous pathogens while ensuring they are used judiciously. We recognize and appreciate the bipartisan leadership behind this legislation to advance a policy solution that both fosters innovation and helps guarantee patients timely access to life-saving antimicrobial treatments," said John F. Crowley, President and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).

"For people with cystic fibrosis, effective antibiotics are an essential lifeline. While antimicrobial resistance continues to pose an increasing and significant threat, the market is failing to develop new treatments patients need to survive. The PASTEUR Act offers a smart, sustainable solution that rewards innovation while promoting responsible stewardship. For rare disease patients who are frequently exposed to resistant bacteria, PASTEUR helps ensure that a treatable infection does not become a terminal diagnosis," said Mary Dwight, Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

"Infectious diseases physicians are on the frontlines of the fight against AMR-caring for patients with resistant infections, leading stewardship programs and running clinical trials. The Infectious Diseases Society of America enthusiastically support the bipartisan PASTEUR Act which will help deliver the life-saving novel therapies our patients need and maintain the effectiveness of these precious drugs. Antibiotics make modern medical care safe, and IDSA urges Congress to pass PASTEUR to protect our ability to provide cancer chemotherapy, organ transplants and other surgeries and complex care," said Ronald G. Nahass, MD; President of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

"The reintroduction of the PASTEUR Act comes at a critical moment in the fight against antimicrobial resistance, one of the most urgent public health threats facing our nation and the world. Antimicrobial resistance threatens to undermine decades of medical progress, making once-treatable infections increasingly difficult, and sometimes impossible, to cure. The PASTEUR Act offers a forward-looking solution to revitalize the antimicrobial pipeline, strengthen our nation's preparedness against emerging infectious threats, and help ensure that patients today and future generations have access to the lifesaving treatments when they need them most," said Candace DeMatteis, Vice President of Policy & Advocacy for the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease.

Bennet and Young first introduced the PASTEUR Act in September 2020.

The text of the bill is available HERE. A summary of the bill is available HERE.

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