An active sulfur compound found in garlic can be used to fight resistant bacteria in patients with chronic infections, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen.
Vampires and chronic infections, same enemy. Danish researchers have shown that garlic is capable of destroy important components in the communication systems of resistant bacteria, which involve regulatory RNA molecules.
“The chronic infections involved in cystic fibrosis can be very stubborn,” says Assistant Professor Tim Holm Jakobsen. “But now we have enough knowledge to develop more garlic medicine.”
In 2012, they showed that the sulfur compound “ajoene”, found in garlic or its extract, was responsible for the effect. The new study takes a closer look at ajoene’s ability to inhibit small molecules in two types of bacteria.
Soon a garlic medicine
Two formidable types of bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, studied by researchers are very important. They belong to families of bacteria involved in chronic infections generally combated by methods as diverse as they are ineffective. But the garlic compound effectively combats both.
In 2012, researchers filed a patent on the use of ajoene to fight bacterial infections. Now, Neem Biotech has purchased the license to use the patent.
Their medical product, NX-AS-401, which aims to treat patients with chronic infections during cystic fibrosis, has obtained an “orphan drug designation”. This means that clinical trials on patients will soon be conducted.
If clinical trials show good results, the drug may be marketed as the first in a series of compounds that inhibit or disrupt connections between microbes.
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