21st Century Cures Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROSKAM. Thank you, Chairman Upton.

Mr. Chairman, my DISARM Act is part of this H.R. 6 Cures Act, and I thank Chairman Upton and his staff for including it. It is a focal point of a lot of discussion on both sides of the aisle as it relates to antibiotics.

Mr. Chairman, there is an incredible health threat that has manifested itself interestingly and sadly in two important ways near my constituency in the Chicago area.

Back in December of 2013, 44 patients at Lutheran General Hospital cultured positive for CRE, which is known as the nightmare bacteria. To put this in perspective, previously, only 96 cases had been reported to the CDC before. Nearby, in Algonquin, Illinois, two cases of an ostensibly drug-resistant tuberculosis were also diagnosed. Now, according to the CDC, 23,000 patients die annually from this.

What the DISARM Act does--which is embedded in Cures, H.R. 6--is it gets researchers and scientists back in the business of antibiotic research and development by modernizing how Medicare views treatments for infections that are considered to be unmet medical needs.

It reimburses target antibiotics at cost to ensure a functioning marketplace where the right treatment is used at the right time for the right patient helping to reinvigorate the pipeline of drugs and development, and it is a critical piece of the drug resistance puzzle.

Mr. Chairman, I urge passage of Cures, H.R. 6, and I thank Chairman Upton.

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