Novel antibiotic candidates starve resistant bacteria by blocking vitamin supply

by Andreas Fischer, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

edited by Sadie Harley , reviewed by Robert Egan

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Add as preferred source HIPS researchers identify novel targets for antibiotics. Credit: HIPS/Lucia Bernhardt Bacteria have spent decades evolving resistance to virtually every antibiotic we have thrown at them. To stay ahead, new drugs must hit targets that existing antibiotics have never touched. A research team at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now developed a series of synthetic drug candidates that do exactly that: By blocking an essential molecular supply system, these molecules cut off the bacteria's supply of essential vitamins and starve them to death. The team published its findings in two studies in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry .