January 8, 2023 – Scientists say they’ve developed a brand new antibiotic that appears to work against a deadly bacteria that’s immune to most drugs.
Scientists from Harvard University and the pharmaceutical company Roche announced the event of zosurabalpine in the web journal Nature. The recent drug targets a bacterium called Acinetobacter baumannii that thrives in medical environments like hospitals and based on the CDCcaused about 8,500 infections and killed 700 people in 2017.
Acinetobacter baumannii may cause lung, urinary tract and blood infections. The bacterium is immune to quite a few antibiotics called carbapenems, which is why additionally it is called carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanniior CRAB.
Like other antibiotic bacteria, CRAB is surrounded by an outer cell membrane made up of molecules called lipopolysaccharides that protect the bacteria from their environment. Violent pharmaceuticals said in an article in regards to the recent drug. Zosurabalpine kills CRAB by disrupting lipopolysaccharides from working to construct the outer membrane.
Research showed that zosurabalpine worked within the laboratory on mice that had CRAB-induced infections. Roche has already began human clinical trials, Fierce Pharma said.
“Ongoing research on zosurabalpine, as well as a second novel class of antibiotics that Roche is developing in human clinical trials, will help uncover new biology about how bacterial membranes are constructed,” said Michael Lobritz, MD, global head of infectious diseases at Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, it said in a press release.
“Our goal is to contribute new innovations to overcome antimicrobial resistance, one of the greatest public health challenges posed by infectious diseases.”
In 2017 the World Health Organization named the bacteria those for which antibiotics were needed most. CRAB was at the highest of the list.