New Antibiotic May End 25-Year Drug Drought

February 9, 2015- Scientists recently discovered an antibiotic capable of fighting infections that kill hundreds of thousands of people each year -- a breakthrough that could lead to the field’s first major new drug in more than a quarter-century.

The experimental drug, which was isolated from a sample of New England dirt, is called teixobactin. It hasn’t yet been tested in people, though it cured all mice infected with antibiotic-resistant staphylococci bacteria, which usually kills 90 percent of the animals, according to a study published in the journal Nature.

Bacteria appear to have a particularly difficult time developing resistance to the drug, potentially overcoming a major problem with existing antibiotics.

“It should be used, if it gets successfully developed, as broadly as possible, because it is exceptionally well-protected from resistance development,” said Kim Lewis, one of the study’s authors and a professor at Northeastern University in Boston. He is also a co-founder of NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals LLC, which is developing the drug.

Many antibiotics are found in natural settings, sending drug researchers to rainforests, caves, and -- in the case of teixobactin -- a grassy field in Maine.

The last major new antibiotic, daptomycin, was discovered in the 1980s by Eli Lilly & Co.

Read the full bloomberg.com editorial post here.

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