3 ms·
> “It should be used, if it gets successfully developed, as broadly as possible, because it is exceptionally well-protected from resistance development,” said K
by NoMoreNicksLeft 12y ago
> “It should be used, if it gets successfully developed, as broadly as possible, because it is exceptionally well-protected from resistance development,” said Kim Lewis, one of the study’s authors and a professor at Northeastern University in Boston. Lewis estimated that it may take more than 30 years for bacteria to become resistant to teixobactin. He is also a co-founder of NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals LLC, which is developing the drug.
I'd much rather get two or three more that all use different mechanisms, and use them as a cocktail.
Let the bugs try to develop 3 different kinds of resistance at once.
- astrodust 12y agoConsidering how many bacteria are out there, and how frequently many of them multiply, even a one in a quadrillion chance of a mutation providing a resistance benefit is barely a speed-bump in evolutionary terms. Their "thirty year" claim is a best guess, but as this is entirely random, it could be three hundred, and it could be three. Remember there's about 10^14 bacterial cells in the average human body, ten times the number of human cells. Everyone's a big petri dish. If you killed all but one in a billion you'd still have a whole bunch left.
- Fomite 12y agoMultiple antibiotics often carry fairly serious medical risks. "Cured of your infection" is somewhat less heartening when we boxed your kidneys doing it.