New drug 'cures' bacteria of antibiotic resistance

A chemist based at the University of Copenhagen has taken out a patent for a drug that can make previously multidrug-resistant bacteria responsive to antibiotics. Associate Professor Jørn Bolstad Christensen and his colleagues hope the substance will soon be able to tackle the problems associated with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

One of the main killers prior to the discovery of antibiotics was tuberculosis - an infectious disease that typically affects the lungs. The disease has since developed a resistance to the majority of antibiotics that would otherwise kill the tuberculosis bacteria and, while it does not pose an imminent threat to Denmark, resistant strains of the bacteria are nearing the region’s borders.

While those bacteria that have developed a resistance remain vulnerable to antibiotics, they have developed an ability to shed bacteria-killing substances before any damage is done to them - a practice known as activating an efflux pump. Associate Professor Christensen has isolated a substance able to block the efflux pump so that an antibiotic remains in bacteria until the bacteria dies.

“You could say that we cure bacteria of their resistance and slay them with antibiotics,” he said.

Working with Drs Jette Kristiansen from the University of Southern Denmark and Oliver Hendricks from the King Christian X’s Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Associate Professor Christensen discovered that Thioridazin, an antipsychotic drug, was able to kill bacteria without any noticeably harmful effects upon humans. Furthermore, the chemists believed they could make the substance more benign.

“At very most, recipients of the medication may become slightly sluggish,” Associate Professor Christensen said. “This is also because very small doses are needed to affect the bacteria.”

Because Thioridazin is an approved drug, the research team hopes their antiresistance medication, JEK 47, will be approved without going through the usual process for new pharmaceuticals. If this is the case, JEK 47 will most likely be a cheap medication that a pharmaceuticals manufacturer could release quickly.

If an investor does not show interest in the discovery, however, Associate Professor Christensen said he will donate it to an NGO able to use the substance in poor countries that suffer from drug-resistance problems.

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