The perfect sustainable antibiotic would be highly effective when consumed and fully biodegradable. When it comes to ciprofloxacin, up to now the reality has been different: the substance, which is a quinolone antibiotic, is extremely stable in the environment and can be detected in bodies of water, sediment and sewage sludge. It enters the soil through animal manure and is taken up from there by food crops. Because ciprofloxacin is effective even in small doses, the risk of resistance developing is extremely high.
However, these environmental and health risks could become a thing of the past: funded by the DBU, researchers at Leuphana University Lüneburg have been able to develop more environmentally friendly forms of ciprofloxacin. This was achieved by using computer-aided methods to change the starting molecule in targeted ways, synthesizing new compounds and testing the new antibiotic in test tubes for pharmacological activity, unwanted side effects and stability. The challenge: the substance should biodegrade after its medical use, but also be sufficiently stable while inside the human body. Patents were filed for two successful prototypes at the end of 2017, and the project concluded at the end of 2018. This is proof that medications can simultaneously be effective and designed to be environmentally friendly. “We have developed substances that work in a test tube, but these are not finished medications,” says Professor Dr Klaus Kümmerer, a member of the team of researchers at Leuphana University. “That is now up to potential partners from the pharmaceutical industry.”
Download the final report here: https://www.dbu.de/projekt_30839/01_db_2848.html
