Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

New antibiotic could be effective against resistant bacteria

antibiotics switzerland
"Any new class of antibiotics that is able to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria such as carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii would be a major breakthrough," said Michael Lobritz from Roche. Keystone / Jaipal Singh

A new class of antibiotics has shown promising results against an antibiotic-resistant bacterium in initial studies. However, the active ingredient developed by researchers at the pharmaceutical company Roche in Basel is still a long way from being used in practice.

According to the study published on Wednesday in the scientific journal “Nature”, the newly developed active substance called zosurabalpine was effective in the laboratory and in mice against the antibiotic-resistant bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii – a typical hospital germ that can cause pneumonia, for example.

+How rich countries and big pharma companies hinder the human right to science

Antibiotic resistance has become an acute threat to health in recent decades, the researchers emphasised in the study. The bacterium targeted by the new active ingredient is particularly worrying. This is because it belongs to the so-called gram-negative bacteria, which are surrounded by inner and outer membranes that are difficult for most antibiotics to overcome. It repeatedly leads to outbreaks of infection in intensive care units around the world.

“Any new class of antibiotics that is able to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria such as carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii would be a major breakthrough,” said Michael Lobritz from Roche, who was involved in the study, when asked by the Keystone-SDA news agency. However, further studies are needed to know whether Zosurabalpine will bring about this breakthrough.

More

Debate
Hosted by: Jessica Davis Plüss

How has the pandemic affected your view of the pharmaceutical industry?

To some people, pharmaceutical companies are the heroes of the pandemic. To others, they are to blame for the challenges ending the pandemic.

41 Comments
View the discussion

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here. 

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.


Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Gestational diabetes increases the risk of adult-onset diabetes

More

Gestational diabetes found to increase risk of adult-onset diabetes

This content was published on A research team from the Lake Geneva region has identified persistent dysfunctions in glucose regulation in women with gestational diabetes. In the long term, this can increase the risk of adult-onset diabetes by up to ten times.

Read more: Gestational diabetes found to increase risk of adult-onset diabetes
The Graubünden village of Brienz has to be evacuated by midday on Sunday

More

Swiss village must be evacuated by midday on Sunday

This content was published on The village of Brienz-Brinzauls in eastern Switzerland, which is threatened by a rockfall, must be evacuated by 1pm on Sunday. All residents must leave the village.

Read more: Swiss village must be evacuated by midday on Sunday
Former judge in Chur found guilty of rape

More

Former Swiss judge found guilty of rape

This content was published on A former judge of the Graubünden Administrative Court in eastern Switzerland has been found guilty of rape, sexual harassment and threatening a former trainee.

Read more: Former Swiss judge found guilty of rape

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR