BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Ganging up on TB

March 12, 2009 7:00 AM UTC

Work by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University suggests that two FDA-approved antibiotics-meropenem and clavulanate-could be used in combination to overcome drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.1 Although the fact that meropenem must be given through i.v. could restrict use, researchers think the prevalence of drug-resistant disease makes testing the combination worthwhile.

Meropenem, marketed as Merrem by AstraZeneca plc, is a member of the carbapenem class of β-lactam antibiotics. β-lactam antibiotics have had little effect against tuberculosis infection because they are hydrolyzed by M. tuberculosis' β-lactamase (BLAC).2...