Vancomycin

In a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, investigators describe how the change made vancomycin 1,000 times more effective against both drug-resistant enterococci and the original forms of the microorganism.

Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, modified vancomycin, invented 60 years ago and considered a last-resort treatment against many of these infections. They made a key change to its molecular structure, interfering with how the bacterium, enterococcus, makes protective cell walls.

Vancomycin was given intravenously in doses of 0.5 gm. at 6-hour intervals for periods of up to 4 weeks to 9 patients, all of whom had staphylococcal infections.