A new antibiotic, isolated from bacteria that are unculturable, seems capable of combating harmful bacteria and even multi-resistant “superbugs.” The new drug, Clovibactin, efficiently killed drug-resistant Gram-positive bacterial pathogens. In addition, bacteria did not develop any detectable resistance.
This research is published in Cell in the paper, “A new antibiotic from an uncultured bacterium binds to an immutable target.”
Antimicrobial resistance is a major problem for human health and researchers worldwide are looking for new solutions. “We urgently need new antibiotics to combat bacteria that become increasingly resistant to most clinically used antibiotics,” said Markus Weingarth, PhD, associate professor from the chemistry department of Utrecht University.
Few new antibiotics have been introduced into the clinic over the last decades and they often resemble older, already known antibiotics.
