So, last week on The Daily Show (antibiotics)

[fuelair]

Jon spoke with a guest who recently wrote about new potential directions for drug research - specifically targeted drugs for specific bacteria. Jon even mentioned use of genome research re:targeting and author went with it.

Fortunately, Derek has some comments on why this is not quite the great idea it seems at first glance: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/05/15/the_daily_show_on_finding_new_antibiotics.php


Readers interested in Alzheimer's might want to look for other recent stuff on same in the posts- the latest just above this one datewise......

 

[Prometheus]

I had a house guest a couple years ago who was doing post-doc research at MIT, developing a targeted drug delivery system that he said would allow doctors to administer micro-doses of broad-spectrum antibiotics directly to infected cells only, without having to flood the whole body with medicine. This seems like a better approach to me.

 

[fuelair]

I had a house guest a couple years ago who was doing post-doc research at MIT, developing a targeted drug delivery system that he said would allow doctors to administer micro-doses of broad-spectrum antibiotics directly to infected cells only, without having to flood the whole body with medicine. This seems like a better approach to me.

Thanks - I'll pass that over to Derek in the column comments!!!

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Jon spoke with a guest who recently wrote about new potential directions for drug research - specifically targeted drugs for specific bacteria. Jon even mentioned use of genome research re:targeting and author went with it.

Fortunately, Derek has some comments on why this is not quite the great idea it seems at first glance: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/05/15/the_daily_show_on_finding_new_antibiotics.php


Readers interested in Alzheimer's might want to look for other recent stuff on same in the posts- the latest just above this one datewise......

From the link:

First off, from a drug discovery perspective, a narrow-spectrum antibiotic, one that kills only (say) a particular genus of bacterium, has several big problems: it's even harder to discover than a broader-spectrum agent,

A lot of current research is in making designed drugs, not discovering them. So I don't think it was as far fetched as it sounded.

its market is much smaller, it's much harder to prescribe usefully, and its lifetime as a drug is shorter. (Other than that, it's fine). The reasons for these are as follows:

The market for any new antibiotic will have to be small as we conserve its use. It's why we need public investment, not private which does not want to see capital tied up waiting for a long term return.

 

[crhkrebs]

A lot of current research is in making designed drugs, not discovering them. So I don't think it was as far fetched as it sounded.

All man made antibiotics are modifications of naturally occurring ones. I'm not aware of any antibiotic that has been "designed" from scratch.

Not to say it won't happen, it's just that our sources for antibiotics have had a billion or so years head start.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

All man made antibiotics are modifications of naturally occurring ones. I'm not aware of any antibiotic that has been "designed" from scratch.

Not to say it won't happen, it's just that our sources for antibiotics have had a billion or so years head start.

Regardless of past antibiotic discovery, modern techniques are allowing more and more drug engineering. Antibiotic manufacturers are working in this direction as well. It doesn't matter if they are starting with known mechanisms of bactericidals and bacteriostatics. The idea is to look specifically at the actions on the molecular level.

A New Route to Designer Antibiotics

Interactions of designer antibiotics and the bacterial ribosomal aminoacyl-tRNA site.

Past research relied more heavily on trial and error.