Antibiotics are a pillar of modern medicine. They have saved millions of lives and added some 20 years to human life expectancy. But as the use of antibiotics has increased, so has the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant microbes that have adapted to survive most, or all, of today’s antibiotics. The CDC reports that two million people are infected with drug-resistant bacteria every year in the United States, and the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance estimated that, around the world, 700,000 people die of such infections annually. That number stands to increase: the Review predicts that, by 2050, drug resistance could be responsible for 10 million deaths a year. And while these numbers are dominated by bacterial infections, fungal infections like Candida auris are also a threat, especially to vulnerable patients in hospitals and nursing homes.

Despite drug resistance growing, the development of new antibiotics has slowed. How can policymakers help accelerate the pace of new drug development. How can all of us—doctors, hospitals, and patients, as well as the agricultural sector—be better stewards of existing drugs? Forum panelists will examine the scope of this looming crisis and look at how changes in policy and practice can help us stay one step ahead of these superbugs.

Moderator

David Freeman, Editorial Director of NBC News MACH

Panelists

Helen Boucher, Director, Tufts Center for Integrated Management of Antimicrobial Resistance (CIMAR) and Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine

Lauri Hicks, Director, Office of Antibiotic Stewardship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Marc Lipsitch, Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Kevin Outterson, Executive Director of CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator), and Professor of Law, Boston University

Part of: The Dr. Lawrence H. and Roberta Cohn Forums.
Presented jointly with NBC News Digital

Live webcast will be on Friday, October 11, 2019, 12:00pm – 1:00pm ET.
An on-demand video will be posted after the event.

To learn more, click here.