New Antibiotic Packs a Punch Against Bacterial Resistance

The Scripps Research Institute launched a press release that states the development of a reinforced version of vancomycin, in their mission to overcome vancomycin-resistant bacteria.

The team of researchers led by Prof. Dale Boger – co-chair of the Institute’s Department of Chemistry – have managed to modify the antibiotic in the lab to make it more potent against infections with e.g. MRSA. Vancomycin has been prescribed for 60 years and it has proven to be a very effective drug. Lately however, bacteria has stared to develop resistance to it.

Prof. Boger and his team discovered in their previous studies that it is possible to make two alterations to the drug’s original mechanism of action, that will increase its efficiency. “With these modifications, you need less of the drug to have the same effect” Prof. Boger said.  Another new study showed that there can be a third alteration made to vancomycin that will increase the drug’s potency 1000-fold.

“This increases the durability of this antibiotic. Organisms just can’t simultaneously work to find a way around three independent mechanisms of action. Even if they found a solution to one of those, the organisms would still be killed by the other two” Prof. Boger stated.

Source: The Scripps Research Institute

Read the original press release here.