A NEW DRUG TO WIPE OUT SUPERBUGS
Breakthrough as Scots scientists battle killer infections
A REVOLUTIONARY new treatment that kills some of the world’s deadliest superbugs has been developed by Scots scientists. The drug destroys MRsA, E.coli and other infections – even strains that are resistant to antibiotics.
in what is being hailed as a ‘breakthrough’ by researchers who created it, the treatment could be a solution to the growing global threat posed by superbugs.
Experts fear antibiotic-resistant strains could be responsible for up to 12,000 deaths every year in the UK. Many of those affected are vulnerable patients, such as the elderly.
The new drug, created by Aberdeenbased NovaBiotics, is being developed into creams and sprays, as well as medicines to be given via intravenous drips.
The company says it is based on proteins found in the body’s own natural
defences. Crucially, this means that unlike antibiotics, bugs do not develop resistance to it.
NovaBiotics has published evidence indicating its effectiveness in destroying infections listed as ‘urgent threats’ by the World Health Organisation.
The research, published in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, indicates that the drug is highly effective in killing MRSA bugs in the lab.
But it has also been engineered to kill the gut infection E.coli and a number of other bugs that can cause pneumonia, blood infection and urinary tract infections.
Dr Deborah O’Neil, chief executive and scientific officer of NovaBiotics, said: ‘In creating this treatment, we went back to the drawing board and found products that kill bacteria in our own immune system. We found peptides, which are simple proteins that live in any part of the body where there is a natural barrier, such as the skin or the gut lining, that actually form part of the body’s own defence against bacteria. We developed them into this product.’
Around one third of the population carry the bug Staphylococcus aureus, which lives harmlessly on human skin and in the nose.
However, it can become a problem if, during surgery for example, it enters the body.
The bug is resistant to many antibiotics and one strain, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is considered a serious threat.
Dr O’Neil added: ‘Many people take their own MRSA infections in with them to hospital and this [treatment] is something that could be used to eradicate their own reservoir of the infection.
‘It could be developed into a gel or cream and put into a patient’s nose – which is where MRSA lives – to kill it, or onto wounds to prevent infection. Or if a patient is seriously ill with an infection, it could be put into an intravenous drip or an injection.
‘Antibiotic resistance is going to get worse before it gets better. But there are exciting things going on in research and our product represents a breakthrough.
‘The fact that it is not an antibiotic means we can use it to prevent infections as well as treat infections, because bugs cannot develop resistance to it.’
Professor Hugh Pennington, a former adviser to the UK Government on microbiology, said: ‘This is a very welcome move as we do need new antimicrobials.
‘But it needs to be available at a reasonable cost to the NHS. It must go through all the clinical testing and it must be used wisely, as bacteria are very good at exploiting evolution.’
Antiobiotics work by disrupting the way bacteria develop. But some bugs overcome this process and go on to replicate, leading to widespread resistance.
The treatments developed by NovaBiotics are based on proteins in the body’s own immune system which are more effective in destroying bugs because humans have co-evolved over time with bacteria to deal with infections.
Official figures are not kept on superbug infections or deaths.
But last year the UK Sepsis Trust warned that the true figure could be around 12,000 throughout Britain every year.
MRSA infected 88 Scots last year and has contributed to the deaths of nearly 2,400 in two decades, mainly through outbreaks in hospitals. In the first three months of 2017, 1,118 E.coli cases in patients were reported.
NovaBiotics hopes to develop a product within five years.