British scientists find 'superbug cure'
Scientists say they have found three drugs which kill the MRSA superbug - after developing them on a computer.
New research firm e-Therapeutics claimed the treatment even works on strains of the bug which have defeated the best existing drugs.
MRSA has been blamed for thousands of deaths of hospital patients every year.
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It has been notoriously difficult to treat as it resists antibiotics.
Patients are currently most likely to be given the antibiotic vancomycin as a last resort treatment, but some strains of MRSA have developed resistance.
The drugs discovered by Newcastle-based e-Therapeutics have been demonstrated in the laboratory to kill even vancomycin-resistant strains of MRSA.
They also knock out other dangerous bacteria, such as vancomycin-resistant enterococci and Staphylococcus epidermidis, which are an increasing menace in hospitals.
Professor Malcolm Young, on secondment from his role as pro-vice chancellor of Newcastle University, used his academic background in mathematics to develop systematic analysis to assist drug development.
He used computers to "industrialise" drug research by using models to predict how drugs would affect human tissue and bacteria.
The treatment is now in the final stages of clinical testing, and the developers hope it could take as little as three years to license as the drugs are already used on humans for other conditions.
Prof Young, chief executive of e-Therapeutics, said "We believe that the discovery of these new drugs is important for doctors and their patients.
"We pursued treatments for MRSA and other resistant bugs because older laboratory methods have been extensively tried in this area but haven't resulted in effective new medicines.
"These new therapies for MRSA and other dangerous hospital-based infections are a tremendous boost for our new approach to drug discovery and for patient safety."
The number-crunching approach to drug development will now be used more widely.
Dr Roy Drucker, medical director of e-Therapeutics, said: "We're very encouraged by this medically important success, and we're now going to pursue other areas where medical need hasn't been met by conventional drug discovery, such as other drug-resistant infectious diseases, and malignant melanoma.
"These new approaches give us the unique ability to systematically address clinical areas where existing drugs don't work."
