Nagpur varsity develops new drug for UTIs

02 August, Nagpur

Nagpur University’s biochemistry department’s associate professor Archana Moon has developed a new drug for treating multi-drug resistant (MDR) uro-pahtogenic bacterial infections, commonly known as urinary tract infections (UTIs).

“Every year approximately 80 lakh to 1 crore people suffer from UTI and 75-95 per cent of UTIs are caused by the microbe escherichia coli (E-Coli). Resistance in gram-negative bacteria (E-Coli) has increased over the last few years, mainly due to the spread of strains producing extended-spectrum -lactamases (ESBLs),” Ms Moon said.

The professor said the drug is a result of lots of research in the fields of microbiology, molecular biology and Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) to develop the formulation.

She added the drug has been developed for UTIs, but it can also be used for other infections with different molecular combinations.

“The drug works on a three-pronged strategy so that there is no chance of survival of E-Coli microbes unlike other available drugs to which the bacteria has become resistant. The compound is able to inhibit -lactamase activity, inactivating Beta-lactamases, and block the active site of penicillin binding proteins (PBP), thereby overcoming the deleterious effects of mutations in PBPs of MDR-UTI causative pathogen E-Coli,” the professor said.

The research was put in over last 7 to 8 years and funded by Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), under Research and Innovation (R&I) Project ‘Technology Transfer’.

The project was screened by an expert committee, appointed by RUSA, and Rs 35 lakh was sanctioned in June 2016, she added.