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.
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