Drug gives hope in superbug fight

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Researchers are carrying out trials of a bactericidal compound, which they claim actually kills bacteria, with a view to developing a product for use in hospitals within three years.

Most antibiotics used to treat hospital bugs such as MRSA are bacteriostatic, meaning they prevent the growth of bacteria.

Brighton-based pharmaceutical company Destiny Pharma believes its compound - codenamed XF-73 - could hold the key to stamping out the potentially-fatal bug.

A study showed that, even after 55 repeat exposures, MRSA bacteria did not develop resistance to the drug - which is applied as a gel into patients' noses - in the same way it does to antibiotics.

"Today's results suggest that XF-73's remote resistance profile may allow widespread MRSA decolonisation in hospitals to support national initiatives for effective infection control," the company said in a statement.

"Destiny Pharma has now completed its Phase I clinical trials and this result is the latest of many which have shown XF-73's high potential."

The firm presented its findings to the European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona last month.

XF-73 destroyed the five most common strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA) in laboratory tests, according to the study.

Five of the most common strains of MRSA were tested against the drug and an antibiotic was used as a control. The research was led by Destiny Pharma's chief executive Dr Bill Love.