September 4, 2018

expert reaction to potential new antibiotic

Researchers, publishing in Nature Communications,  reported a potential new antibiotic candidate called albomycin δ2.

Dr Andrew Fenton, Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield, said:

“The study focuses on the chemical synthesis of a class of antibiotics called Sideromycins.

“These are a kind of Trojan horse, they ‘look like’ something the bacteria needs to grow, yet if the bacteria eat them the antibiotics kill them from within.

“The study breaks new ground in the chemical synthesis of these antibiotics. Think Breaking Bad, making drugs from simple base chemicals, but for antibiotics.

“This is a significant step in our fight against antibiotic-resistant infections as it allows us to carry out meaningful, scalable tests on sideromycins to see if we can use them in clinic.

“The drug appears to kill the bacteria S. pneumoniae and S. aureus (MRSA) at very low doses which is a great start when developing an antibiotic for use.”

* ‘Total synthesis and antimicrobial evaluation of natural albomycins against clinical pathogens’ by Zihua Lin et al. will be published in Nature Communications at 4pm UK time on Tuesday 4 September 2018, which is also when the embargo will lift. 

Declared interests

None received.