HKU researchers develop new antibiotic for skin infections
A new antibiotic drug developed by a research team led by Professor Xuechen Li of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hong Kong has gained approval from the National Medical Products Administration of China for clinical trials.
It has taken Li and his colleagues ten years to reach this point. The drug, named Kynomycin, targets complex skin and soft tissue infections and is a new type of cyclic lipopeptide antibiotic with a novel chemical structure.
Skin and soft tissue infections are common bacterial infectious diseases in clinical practice, often leading to emergency visits and hospitalisation. With the emergence of clinically resistant strains and the development of bacterial pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics, treatment options have become increasingly limited.
The development of this drug aims to improve the safety and efficacy of cyclic lipopeptide antibiotics and provide a new choice for clinical treatment. After obtaining approval for this clinical trial, the drug needs to undergo Phase I, II, and III clinical trials and be evaluated and approved by the National Medical Products Administration before it can be produced and marketed.
Li works at the interface of synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry and biology, spanning from innovative synthetic method development to biological studies and drug discovery, with the ultimate aim to develop novel therapeutics. He was awarded a Croucher Senior Research Fellowship in 2018. To view his Croucher profile click here.