DISARM Act incentivizes pharma innovation and causes federal follow-on necessary to break down AMR R&D barriers.

Additional push and pull incentives will be necessary to guarantee a synergistic relationship between AS programs and the pharmaceutical industry [21, 22]. One such program is the Developing an Innovative Strategy for Antimicrobial-Resistant Microorganisms (DISARM) Act, first introduced in the US House of Representatives in 2019 [31]. While not yet signed into law, the Act calls for higher non-DRG reimbursement payments for QIDP drugs approved on or after 1 December 2014 if indicated for infections with high morbidity and mortality rates [24]. To qualify for the payments, which are supposed to plug gaps in the NTAP program, hospitals must meet specific criteria, including establishing an AS program that reports data to the CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (AUR) module or a similar surveillance system [31]. The FDA, National Institutes of Health, and CDC would perform specific functions under the DISARM Act. To further break down barriers related to antimicrobial R&D, these agencies will be asked to study and provide recommendations to other stakeholders [24, 31]. Finally, a study assessing the utilization and consequent resistance development would be performed by the CDC and reported out for future optimization [24].