In a potential game changer for the treatment of superbugs, a new class of antibiotics was developed that cured mice infected with bacteria deemed nearly “untreatable” in humans — and resistance to the drug was virtually undetectable.

Developed by a research team of UC Santa Barbara scientists, the study was published(link is external) in the journal eBioMedicine. The drug works by disrupting many bacterial functions simultaneously — which may explain how it killed every pathogen tested and why low-level of bacterial resistance was observed after prolonged drug exposure.

The project was led by professors Michael Mahan, David Low, Chuck Samuel and their research team, Douglas Heithoff, Scott Mahan, Lucien Barnes and Cyril George.  Additional contributors include professors Guillermo Bazan (UC Santa Barbara) and Andrei Osterman (Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute).