A New Treatment for UTIs in Women, Four Decades Later

The long overdue US approval of an antibiotic to treat UTIs in women is that rarest of things these days — excellent news for women's health. But we have to wonder: why did it take 40 years for Pivmecillinam to get here from Europe? 40?? Really???

Often, the explanation for a health policy problem can be found in a proposed policy cure. If so, I can't imagine a more powerful single-dose argument for the Pasteur Act — which has been languishing in no-man’s-land on Capitol Hill since 2021 — than Pivmecillinam and its forty-year journey across the Atlantic.

Thanks to the good news about Pivmecillinam, the forgotten-but-not-gone Pasteur Act got some rare airtime:

"Most of the nation’s biggest drug makers, unable to turn a profit on antibiotics, have long since abandoned the field…and the dearth of investment has prompted an exodus of talented researchers. A federal initiative that would create a subscription-based model for antibiotic development has been languishing in Congress. The $6 billion measure, the Pasteur Act, would provide pharmaceutical companies an upfront payment in exchange for unlimited access to a drug once it is approved by the F.D.A..”

The Pasteur Act would be a great boost to the public health and a rare chance for bipartisan action on a real, prevalent, everyday problem -- and maybe that's why it sits in political limbo?