‘Trojan horse’ drug targets superbugs

A new antibiotic that targets a wide range of superbugs appears better than standard treatment for some stubborn infections, according to a study that offers hope in the fight against drug-resistance.

The ‘‘Trojan horse’’ drug cefiderocol, which hijacks bacteria’s own biology to penetrate cells, eradicated germs more effectively than antibiotics now in use for urinary tract infections.

Cefiderocol will need further testing but experts said that of the 10 potential antibiotics in final-stage trials it could have the broadest impact.

The growth of antibioticresistant infections, fuelled by overuse of the drugs, is one of the gravest threats to modern medicine, raising the prospect that common infections will again become fatal. Public Health England has warned that three million operations and chemotherapy treatments a year could become too risky if antibiotics were not working. However, research has been limited as new therapies would be held back for emergency use, limiting sales for drug companies.

Now a trial of 448 adults with urinary infections resistant to multiple drugs showed that 73 per cent responded to cefiderocol after a week compared with 55 per cent on the standard combination of imipenem-cilastatin, according to results in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Simon Portsmouth, of Shionogi Inc, which makes the medicine, said: ‘‘Our results support cefiderocol as a novel approach that might be used to overcome gramnegative resistance.’’

Cefiderocol binds itself to iron that the bacteria need to survive and draw into themselves, bypassing their defences. ‘‘Cefiderocol acts as a Trojan horse,’’ Dr Portsmouth said. –