Student Education News

A new use of an existing antibiotic

Professor Ian Chopra and Dr Alex O'Neill have shown that high levels of FA prevent the development of resistant bacteria.

The search for effective antibiotics, to which bacteria have not developed resistance, is essential to ensure that bacterial infection remains treatable. The antibiotic fusidic acid (FA) has been extensively used in clinical practice in Europe over the past 50 years particularly to treat skin and soft tissue infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, including MRSA, but has not to date been used in the USA. Resistance to FA has been gradual emerging in Europe, and research carried out by Prof Ian Chopra and Dr Alex O’Neill has elucidated the molecular mechanism for development of resistance. In addition, Chopra and O’Neill have shown that high levels of FA can prevent the development of resistant bacteria.

An American drug development company is now developing FA for clinical use in the USA. The company has developed a new formulation and associated dosing regimen which are designed to avoid development of resistance, and are directly based upon the published studies from Chopra and O’Neill. The company has taken FA through successful Phase II clinical trials. This new therapeutic is well on track to achieving ultimate clinical launch as one of the few effective oral drugs available for treatment of infections caused by MRSA in the USA.

1st November 2012