Researchers have found a way to structurally modify the antibiotic vancomycin to make it even more potent, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). A new therapeutic voice to fight against antibiotic resistance?
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in the United States have succeeded in increasing the effectiveness of vancomycin by 1000, thus allowing a reduced use of antibiotics. This discovery could make it possible to fight against anti-bio resistance, a real public health problem which could be responsible for 10 million deaths in 2050, if global consumption of these drugs will not decrease by then.
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This new form of vancomycin has been tested against enterococci bacteria (Enterococci). It eliminated bacteria resistant to the original vancomycin.
“Doctors could use this modified form of vancomycin without fear of resistance developing,” said Dale Boger, co-chair of TSRI’s Department of Chemistry.
The next step in this research is to design a way to synthesize the modified vancomycin using fewer steps, as the current method requires 30. But for the professor, this remains the “easy part” of the project, compared to the challenge. to design the molecule.
Even though the process isn’t streamlined, Dale Boger believes in the life-saving powers of the new vancomycin that make its production valuable. “Antibiotics are essential remedies against bacterial infections, but antibiotic resistance threatens their effectiveness.”
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