Scientists in the United Kingdom said they had developed a “game-changing” antibiotic that could treat otherwise drug-resistant superbugs.
The researchers developed new versions of a molecule thought to be capable of killing bacteria without damaging mammalian tissue which could save millions, The Independent reports.
Although the antibiotic, known as Teixobactin was discovered in 2015, the current experiment has created "synthetic" classes of the antibiotic that can kill a wide spectrum of microorganisms seen in human patients, according to the researchers.
In a study on mice, the researchers were also able to eradicate methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a bacteria resistant to a number of commonly used antibiotics.
Dr Ishwar Singh, the lead scientist of the research, said the discovery marked a key step toward unlocking teixobactin's full medical potential in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
“Our ultimate goal is to have a number of viable drugs from our modular synthetic teixobactin platform which can be used as a ‘last line of defence’ against superbugs to save lives currently lost due to AMR,” he told the Independent.
According to a study published in The Lancet earlier this year, antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections killed more than 1.2 million people in 2019 as they became a leading cause of death worldwide.
A government-commissioned AMR suggested an additional 10 million people will die each year from drug-resistant infections by 2050.
Patients with systemic life-threatening resistant bacterial infections could be treated with one dose of teixobactin each day, the research suggests.
The synthetic versions can also be kept at room temperature, making global distribution easier by removing the need for cold chains, and they could be produced inexpensively on a large scale, the researchers said.
Dr Singh said the team intended to have synthetic teixobactin available for safety testing in the near future.
