Drug hope in MRSA fight

BRITISH scientists are working on a drug that could herald a breakthrough in efforts to cure MRSA.

Researchers are carrying out trials of a bactericidal compound, which they claim 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, even after 55 repeat exposures, MRSA bacteria did not develop resistance to the drug — which is applied as a gel into patients’ noses — as it does to antibiotics.

The research was led by Destiny Pharma’s chief executive Dr Bill Love.

“If it goes through clinical trials successfully, it really is a completely fundamental breakthrough,” he said.

He said he hoped NHS strategic health authorities would be willing to pay for XF-73 if it was approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence.

The company said: “Destiny Pharma has 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 EU Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona last month.