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New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

phenomena.nationalgeographic.com

1–10 of 86 posts

Re: New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

#2
It's nice to know that despite all the alarmist articles about the end of antibiotics, good progress is being made. If this works, it could completely replace traditional antibiotics. In that case, I could see dozens of new drugs in this class developed by the antibiotic companies. This would be similar to the race to develop new antidepressants, HIV drugs, and erectile dysfunction drugs. Any drug you have to take over and over again is a huge draw for the pharmaceuticals.

Re: New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

#3
> it only works the bacteria known as gram-positives, which includes problematic bugs like Staphylococcus

I have had one of those for almost a decade now.

> He hasn’t tested it in humans yet

How long is the road ahead before it becomes available to regular patients? Should I get my hopes up?

Re: New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

#4
post #2

It's nice to know that despite all the alarmist articles about the end of antibiotics, good progress is being made. If this works, it could completely replace traditional antibiotics. In that case, I could see dozens of new drugs in this class developed by the antibiotic companies. This would be similar to the race to develop new antidepressants, HIV drugs, and erectile dysfunction drugs. Any drug you have to take ov…

This is really fantastic news but I too am skeptical of the drug companies being interested in a cure as opposed to a repeatable treatment.

As a side note the article seems very well written for non-medical folks like myself.

Re: New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

#6

> it only works the bacteria known as gram-positives, which includes problematic bugs like Staphylococcus I have had one of those for almost a decade now. > He hasn’t tested it in humans yet How long is the road ahead before it becomes available to regular patients? Should I get my hopes up?

>I have had one of those for almost a decade now.

Sinuses?

Re: New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

#7

> it only works the bacteria known as gram-positives, which includes problematic bugs like Staphylococcus I have had one of those for almost a decade now. > He hasn’t tested it in humans yet How long is the road ahead before it becomes available to regular patients? Should I get my hopes up?

> I have had one of those for almost a decade now. Sinuses?

No, just an ear infection. More annoying than anything. Although it does supposedly carry some risk of hearing loss should it come back hard.

Re: New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

#8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have had one of those for almost a decade now. Sinuses?

No, just an ear infection. More annoying than anything. Although it does supposedly carry some risk of hearing loss should it come back hard.

Sorry to hear that. Been dealing with similar of the sinuses myself for about the same period of time.

Definitely no fun, but this does sound promising. Good luck to us all.

Re: New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

#9

> it only works the bacteria known as gram-positives, which includes problematic bugs like Staphylococcus I have had one of those for almost a decade now. > He hasn’t tested it in humans yet How long is the road ahead before it becomes available to regular patients? Should I get my hopes up?

It's going to be a long time before it is readily available for human use. Expect three, maybe four stages of clinical trials. There is also the risk that it doesn't even work in humans or has major side effects that outweigh the benefit.

This is sensationalism news, or as it is most often called, news.

Re: New antibiotic kills off persistent infections

#10
post #2

It's nice to know that despite all the alarmist articles about the end of antibiotics, good progress is being made. If this works, it could completely replace traditional antibiotics. In that case, I could see dozens of new drugs in this class developed by the antibiotic companies. This would be similar to the race to develop new antidepressants, HIV drugs, and erectile dysfunction drugs. Any drug you have to take ov…

This won't completely replace traditional antibiotics. As the article states this acts on Gram positive persister cells (a very specific group). The coming storm is from Gram negative bacteria such as Klebsiella, Actinetobacter and Pseudomonas.

There is actually very little activity occurring in the field of antibiotic drug discovery and you identified the issue; no money in drugs that someone takes for 14 days and stops. Pharmaceutical companies are driven by stockholders and therefore they want them developing drugs that someone takes for the rest of their life (anti-depressants). Much of the research for abx discovery comes from academia who struggle with budgets that are pennies compared to what Pfizer, GSK, Wyeth, Astra can afford.

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