Much-Needed New Antibiotic in Development
For years, existing antibiotics have increasingly met resistance from strains of certain infectious diseases, leading to a global rise in these diseases. However, for the first time in about 30 years, a new drug is in development.
The potentially powerful new antibiotic, found effective against infections such as staph, strep, anthrax, and tuberculosis, has been isolated from bacteria that live in dirt, according to an article published recently in the journal Nature.
The drug works only against Gram-positive bacteria, which includes methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and commonly infects older patients who have been in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes. The bacteria also can cause infection with invasive procedures, such as surgery, or devices, such as intravenous tubing or artificial joints.
The new drug does not work against Gram-negative bacteria (see box), such as E. coli, gonorrhea, and certain bladder and bloodstream infections.
Drug-resistant bacteria infect at least 2 million people a year in the U.S., and kill 23,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
How it works. The new drug, teixobactin, targets fats which are essential for building the bacterial cell wall; hence, scientists believe that bacteria are unlikely to develop resistance to the new drug.
To date, the drug has been tested only in mice, not in humans, so its full extent is not yet known, and it may be five or six
years until it passes all required tests. However in rodent tests, the drug was found to cure severe infections, with no side effects. And, to date, researchers say the drug works in such a way that bacteria will likely not become resistant to it, unlike many antibiotics in common use now.
What they found. Researchers from Northeastern University, Boston, Mass., along with scientists from the University of Bonn, Germany, led by Dr. Kim Lewis, director of the Antimicrobial Discovery Center at Northeastern, grew the antibiotic in backyard soil. The growing method consists of diluting a soil sample, placing it on special equipment, and putting the equipment back into a box of the same soil. The bacteria then divide and grow into colonies. Once formed, the bacteria can be grown in the laboratory. Researchers found 25 new antibiotics using this method, but deemed teixobactin the latest, most promising one.
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