Fighting drug resistance with fast, artificial enhancement of natural products

(University of Tokyo) Japanese researchers have identified multiple promising new drug candidates to treat antibiotic-resistant infections, including superbugs. The team developed a new technique to enhance the infection-fighting potential of natural chemicals and test them quickly. In laboratory tests, three of the synthetic molecules that the researchers built are four times more effective at killing bacteria than their natural predecessor, which is itself already an order of magnitude more potent than the current drug used against MRSA, vancomycin.
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news