New ‘superbug’ antibiotic to treat sepsis and pneumonia enters last phase of testing
New antibiotic that could save millions of lives enters final testing
- Roche, a Swiss drugmaker, is advancing zosurabalpin, a new antibiotic developed with Harvard University, into the third and final phase of testing.
- Zosurabalpin will be tested against drug-resistant acinetobacter baumannii bacteria, which the CDC identifies as an "urgent threat" and has not been addressed by new antibiotics in over 50 years.
- The Phase 3 trial will involve approximately 400 patients worldwide, comparing zosurabalpin to standard treatment.
- Roche aims to combat antimicrobial resistance with this innovation, potentially revealing new insights into bacterial membranes for future antibiotic discovery.
- The experimental drug is hoped to be approved by the end of the decade, addressing the global issue of Sepsis, which causes approximately 11 million deaths annually, and community-acquired pneumonia, which kills three to four million people each year.