Scientists hail new antibiotic that can kill drug-resistant bacteria

Scientists have discovered an entirely new class of antibiotic that appears to kill one of three bacteria considered to pose the greatest threat to human health because of their extensive drug resistance.

- Linda Geddes

Zosurabalpin defeated highly drug-resistant strains of Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (Crab) in mouse models of pneumonia and sepsis, and was being tested in human trials.

Crab is classified as a priority 1 critical pathogen by the World Health Organization, alongside two other drug-resistant forms of bacterial -Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacteriaceae.

"Crab is a significant cause of infection in hospitals, particularly in people who are on ventilators," said Dr Andrew Edwards, a senior lecturer in molecular microbiology at Imperial College London, who was not involved in the research. "While it is not an aggressive pathogen it is resistant to multiple different antibiotics, making it very difficult to treat.

"Unfortunately, development of new treatments against this bacterium has been extremely challenging because it is very adept at keeping antibiotics from getting past its outer cell layer. Therefore, this work is really exciting".