Medicine & healthcare

Roche Advances First New Antibiotic in 50 Years to Phase 3 Trials

Published MAY 27 2025

Story

Above: The Madrid headquarters of Roche, a multinational pharmaceutical company, on Dec. 27, 2021. Image credit: Cristina Arias/Cover via Getty Images

The Facts

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche announced Monday that it will advance zosurabalpin, an experimental antibiotic, into phase 3 clinical trials targeting carbapenem-resistant acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), a superbug that causes life-threatening hospital infections.
Reuters
Pharmaphorum
If the trials are successful, zosurabalpin will be the first new antibiotic capable of killing acinetobacter bacteria to be developed in 50 years. Developers report that it uses a novel mechanism that targets lipopolysaccharide trafficking in bacterial cell membranes.
The Telegraph
www.ft.com
This process disrupts the formation of the bacterial cell wall, a protective barrier that shields antibiotic-resistant bacteria from antimicrobial drugs, leading to bacterial death through a method for which there is no current microbial resistance.
GB News
Reuters
The drug was developed in cooperation with scientists from Harvard University, with the pharmaceutical company approaching the university in 2020. They jointly published two papers in Nature in January 2024, documenting zosurabalpin’s effects.
Harvard University
Nature
Nature
The phase 3 trial will involve approximately 400 patients from across the world, with some being treated with the novel drug while others will receive standard medication. The hope is that zosurabalpin could be approved by the end of the decade.
Independent
The Times (UK)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently labels CRAB an “urgent public health threat,” with between 40% to 60% of patients who contract CRAB dying as a result of their exposure to the bug.
Arpsp
LBC
www.ft.com

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

This exciting discovery could save millions of lives. Currently, CRAB is an urgent public health threat with no effective treatment options, killing between 40% and 60% of those patients who contract it. If Roche’s phase 3 clinical trial succeeds, zosurabalpin may pioneer a breakthrough in antimicrobial medicine that could revolutionize health outcomes for countless patients.

The Telegraph

Pharmaphorum

Narrative B

Despite Roche’s noble efforts, the harsh reality remains that even promising antibiotics face enormous hurdles in a broken market system. Routinely, the current model disincentives the research of life-saving drugs due to the minimal profits and high costs. The simple fact that it has taken 50 years to find a new CRAB-tackling antibiotic shows the systemic failure of the market to find solutions to our most pressing problems.

www.ft.com