A new antibiotic is promising, in mice, against a multiresistant bacteria

The development of a new type of drug against a bacterial species resistant to several classes of antibiotics existing ones has given promising results in trials with mice and is now being tested in humans, as published today by Nature.

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) – a family of broad-spectrum antibiotics – is classified as a priority 1 critical pathogen by the World Health Organization and an urgent threat by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Joined.

This has become “a major global pathogen with limited treatment options” and for more than 50 years no new chemical class of antibiotics with activity against it has reached patients, says a study led by Claudia Zampaloni, from the Innovation Center of the pharmaceutical company Roche in Switzerland.

A. baumannii is a species of bacteria that is difficult to eliminate because it has an outer membrane that contains lipopolysaccharide (LPS), resistant to the penetration of several antibiotics.

Stopping LPS synthesis and its transport to the outer membrane reduces cell viability and may increase susceptibility to some antibiotics.

The team discovered and developed a clinical candidate belonging to a new class of antibiotics, a linked macrocyclic peptide called zosurabalpine that shows “a promising antibacterial activity against CRAB”, indicates Nature.

This drug prevents LPS from reaching the bacteria’s outer membrane by inhibiting the transport complex that facilitates its movement through the layers.

In laboratory tests and mouse models, the antibiotic was shown to be “effective in treating highly drug-resistant CRAB isolates”overcoming existing antibiotic resistance mechanisms.

The study indicates that zosurabalpine can circumvent existing resistance mechanisms, but the potential for emergence of resistance to this new compound requires further investigation in clinically relevant conditions.

The data together show the potential of zosurabalpine as an antibiotic and human clinical trials have been initiated to further develop this compound with the aim of providing a treatment option for invasive infections caused by CRAB, the study adds.