A fighter of superbugs. Scientists have developed a powerful antibiotic that can make a breakthrough in medicine

Scientists have discovered a new class of antibiotics with potent activity against particularly resistant bacteria. The drug has also demonstrated effectiveness in treating bloodstream infections in mice.

The antibiotic was developed by doctors from Uppsala University. According to them, the drug destroys bacteria with so-called multidrug resistance, SciTechDaily reports.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of antibiotics for the treatment or prevention of bacterial infections. However, the global growth of bacterial resistance to antibiotics jeopardizes their effectiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new therapeutic agents to which there is no resistance yet.

These are the drugs developed by doctors in multinational consortia. Scientists have described a new class of compounds in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

The revolutionary antibiotic targets the LpxH protein used by gram-negative bacteria to synthesize their outer layer of environmental protection, called lipopolysaccharide.

Not all bacteria produce this layer. But those that do include the organisms identified by the WHO as most important for the development of new treatments, including E. coli and Klebsiella, which have already developed resistance to existing antibiotics.

The researchers were able to show that this class of antibiotics is highly active against bacteria with multidrug resistance, i.e. resistance to several drugs.

They also managed to cure bloodstream infections in a mouse model.

Since this class of compounds is completely new, and the LpxH protein has not yet been used as a target for antibiotics, there is no previous resistance to it yet. This contrasts with many antibiotics in existing classes that are currently in clinical development.

Although the results are very promising, significant additional work will need to be done before compounds in this class are ready for clinical trials.

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