via CNBC.com
By Mark Koba
Senior Editor, CNBC
Story: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101620396

With an estimated 23 000 fatalities linked annually in the US to drug-resistant superbugs, the US government has begun to involve itself in the battle against such devastating bugs.

Both the Senate and the House have advanced proposals with wide-ranging ideas aimed at combatting the growing -and often deadly – issue of drug-resistant bacteria.

As the resistance of such bacteria continues to expand and evolve, so too does the implications for large pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the public at large. The progression of super-bugs has lead to changes in many pharmaceutical companies’ Research and Development practices, and may also be contributing to an increase in Mergers and Acquisitions within the pharmaceutical sector.

While many within the pharmaceutical sector, the government, healthcare, and other non-profit sectors may not agree on causes or next steps, the World Health Organization recently released a report indicating that the threat posed by superbugs is not something imagined nor assumed to occur in the future, it is “happening right now in every region of the world.”

For the complete story: visit the original CNBC.com article here.