One of the more daunting tasks facing healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and medical suppliers is their constant battle against infection. Even as new antibiotics are developed, bacteria begin strengthening their resistance until they become immune to the effects of the drug or treatment.
In looking to address concerns over the need of a stronger treatment against such infections, scientists have looked to nature. And they’ve found significant potential in creatures ranging from sponges to lizards – and now honey bees.
A protein, identified as Api137, is naturally produced by bees, wasps, and hornets, and keeps these insects free from infection. It works by preventing bacteria from producing the proteins needed to grow and survive. While most antibiotics attack cells inside the bacteria, Api137 is more proactive in attacking the material necessary for the cells even to take form.
Not only is this good news in looking to reduce or eliminate the 20,000+ deaths that occur each year due to complications associated with infections, but it could introduce a truly new antibiotic into the pharmaceutical marketplace. Typically, new antibiotics produced today are a variation of something already available.
Work on Api137 is currently in the hands of researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Now that the protein has been discovered, scientists will analyze the best ways to safely produce the substance before addressing its prospects for production and distribution.
Although antibiotics don’t follow the same path as pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical drugs, Api137’s road to commercialization won’t be a quick or inexpensive one. Consider that the average time to market from discovery to distribution for a typical drug is nearly ten years and costs upwards of $800 million – due to the amount of testing and regulatory approvals that are needed.