Expert microbiologist says new antibiotic compound “very exciting”

An expert microbiologist has hailed the discovery of a potential new class of antibiotics able to treat lethal hospital-acquired infections as “very exciting”.

Professor Laura Piddock, scientific director at the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership, said the new compound, zosurabalpin, worked “extremely well” in mice and test-tubes, adding that the research offered “definite hope” for other hard-to-treat infections.

Professor Piddock said “What is exciting about this discovery is that one of the building blocks that are part of the outer part of this bacterial cell is disrupted by this new drug.”

In laboratory experiments, the compound stopped a critical building block – a lipopolysaccharide – being transported to the outer part of the cell, preventing the protective membrane from forming properly and ultimately leading to cell death.

Professor Piddock said it was “exciting” the researchers had already completed some “first-in-man” studies – on a relatively small number of healthy people – and were “set up now to go on and do full clinical trials in people with the infection”.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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