Genentech antibiotic quells resistance

With bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics and therefore increasingly deadly, US researchers have developed ‘a much-needed new class’ of drug. Medicinal chemists at Genentech in San Francisco, California, have carefully optimised arylomycin antibiotics, found being made by soil bacteria in the early 2000s.

The molecule, G0775, uses a new mechanism of action to kill primarily fiendish Gram-negative bacteria known to resist existing drugs. Consequently the Genentech team, led by senior scientist Christopher Heise claim that it could be an important element in holding back the tide of antimicrobial resistance.