Monday July 15, 2019.
Over-prescribed and over-used, antibiotics pose a problem for our health because bacteria are now able to resist them. It was therefore necessary to develop a new family of antibiotics; this feat was achieved by French researchers. Explanations.
Resistance of bacteria to antibiotics is dangerous for health
If all members of the scientific community agree that the invention of antibiotics was a major breakthrough in the medical field, these treatments are a problem today, as resistance is increasing. According to the WHO, “ Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health today “And also results in” longer hospitalizations, increased medical expenses and increased mortality “.
Faced with the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance, a team of French scientists brings a glimmer of hope. Researchers from Inserm-University of Rennes and the Institute of Chemical Sciences of Rennes (ISCR) have indeed developed a new type of antibiotics that are both effective against multi-resistant bacteria and do not trigger resistance when used. For the moment, the tests have only been carried out on mice, but the very encouraging results suggest that they will soon be used on humans.
A new family of antibiotics has been created from bacteria
The creation of these new antibiotics was based on a discovery made in 2011. “ We realized that a toxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus whose role was to facilitate infection was also able to kill other bacteria present in our body.. We had thus identified a molecule which possessed a dual toxic and antibiotic activity. We said to ourselves that if we could separate these two activities, we would be able to create a new antibiotic without toxicity on our body. It remained to take up this challenge »Explains Brice Felden, director of the Inserm-University of Rennes laboratory.
With the team of researchers from the Institute of Chemical Sciences in Rennes, the scientists have succeeded in developing compounds that make it possible to create a new family of antibiotics whose action on bacteria does not cause resistance. The next step planned for 2020 is clinical trials on humans. ” The patent has just been licensed and a start-up has just been created »We read on the websiteInserm.
Perrine Deurot-Bien
Read also: 7 things to know about antibiotics
