Science: drug cresomycin could prevent up to a million fatal infections

American chemists from Harvard University have created a new antibiotic that can overcome the defenses of bacteria with multiple resistance to antimicrobial drugs. The study was published in the scientific journal Science.

The drug called cresomycin proved effective against many pathogens, including well-known superbacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The new molecule shows improved ability to bind to bacterial ribosomes, which are biomolecular mechanisms that control protein synthesis. Disrupting ribosome function remains a hallmark of many antibiotics. But some bacteria have learned to secrete enzymes that block drug components.

Cresomycin bypasses this defense through a special form of molecules that securely bind the ribosome and prevent it from performing its function, resulting in the bacterium's destruction.

"While we do not yet know whether crezomycin and similar drugs are safe and effective in humans, our results show significantly improved inhibitory activity against a long list of pathogenic bacterial strains that ruin more than a million lives each year," said the study's lead author, Professor Andrew Myers.

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