Game-changing antibiotic offers world real hope

Antibiotic resistance is one of the great threats facing our civilization as we continue into the 21st century.

It is a threat that is growing silently, in comparison to other, more well-known pressing issues, such as climate change.

The crisis is, nevertheless, one scientists are urgently trying to resolve.

It is estimated that, globally, more than 1 million people die each year from bacterial infections that are resistant to antibiotics. Even final-resort medications are not enough for some pathogens these days, with bacteria growing ever more savvy to our defenses year by year.

Through sheer numbers and natural selection, bacteria, since the discovery of penicillin, have become locked in an evolutionary arms race to develop defenses against modern medicine. Some produce enzymes that break down the effective chemicals within drugs, while others produce robust cell walls to repel antibiotics from entering and destroying them.

COVID-19 has helped speed up this process by placing more ill patients in hospital settings, where so-called superbugs reside.

A future where the simplest infections from superficial cuts can become life-threatening with no effective antibiotics available would be disastrous. Mortality rates could theoretically be sent back to figures unseen since the preindustrial era.

A team of researchers in the United Kingdom has, however, published its results from a new "super antibiotic", which can even destroy bacteria resistant to our most potent current drugs.

Capable of being stored and transported at room temperature, Teixobactin could save more lives each year than the number taken by both COVID-19 and warfare.

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, is one of the more infamous superbugs, preying on its victims mainly in hospital settings where the most vulnerable lie.

Teixobactin has destroyed MRSA in mice studies, meaning trials involving humans may soon be on the horizon. The antibiotic works by disrupting the way MRSA bacteria builds cell walls, the barrier around the organisms that keeps them safe. By binding to crucial fat molecules needed for synthesizing the cell walls, the antibiotic destroys the bacteria resistant to most traditional drugs.

First produced back in 2015, Teixobactin was heralded as a game-changer. The reason why the development is significant is that new ways of producing the drug have made it more accessible to global populations. By replacing parts of the chemical makeup with cheaper alternatives, it is estimated that the cost of production has reduced by nearly 2,000 times.

Logistics are also made easier by the fact that the antibiotic can be kept and transported at room temperature. In our modern global world where inequality is unfortunately rife, improving the efficiency of supply chains to remote areas is crucial. A large part of why COVID-19 vaccines were unable to be shared among developing countries at the height of the pandemic was due to the fact that governments did not have the facilities to store the vaccines in sub-zero temperatures, leaving life-saving medication to waste.

In China, antibiotic resistance is a grave concern. A surge in antibiotic consumption alongside its prevalent use in animal agriculture means the government is employing various strategies to control a surge in deadly infections that modern medicine currently has little answer for. The promise of a new line of effective medicines would be nothing short of a game-changer.

Barry He is a London-based columnist for China Daily.