Drug-resistant infections are becoming increasingly common. Around 50,000 people in Europe and the U.S. die each year from such infections. Some estimate that those numbers could reach 10 million people per year by 2050. As more antibiotics are found to be useless against superbugs there is a great need for a new class of antibiotics.
Since about 99% of microbial species found in the wild won’t grow in the lab, researchers had to find alternative ways to study the bacteria. Researchers used a device to isolate single strains of bacteria from soil samples then returned them to the ground to replicate.
Researchers working with NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals tested over 10,000 samples of soil bacteria against Staphylococcus aureus. It was discovered that Eleftheria terrae used teixobactin to effectively fight bacteria by attacking their cell walls, rather than the bacterial proteins most antibiotics target. Since teixobactin was able to prevent the bacteria from building cell walls, researchers believe it is unlikely that the bacteria could easily develop resistance.
Mice were given a nearly fatal infection of a drug-resistant form of MRSA to test the safety of teixobaction in animals. Researchers then injected the mice with teixobactin and found that each treated mouse survived.
Teixobactin only works to fight gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA, streptococcus and TB. It does not work against gram-negative bacteria such as Klebsiella, E. coli, and pseudomonas. If all goes well, teixobactin could reach human clinical trials within two years.
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