Antibiotics losing ability to kill superbugs

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Europe faces a growing threat from superbugs that are resistant to a powerful, last-resort class of antibiotics known as carbapenems, the EU's disease monitoring agency said on Friday.

It is the latest in a series of warnings about antibiotic resistance from healthcare authorities around the world who fear that in future simple infections may no longer respond to medical treatment.

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics has fuelled a rise in drug-resistant infections and experts are particularly alarmed about bacteria that cannot be killed with carbapenems, the most powerful class of antibiotic drugs.

Switzerland's Roche , however, has re-entered the arena through a $550 million tie-up with privately held Polyphor this month to develop and commercialise an experimental antibiotic against hospital superbugs.

Roche's initiative was welcomed by Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, speaking at a news conference that was webcast from Brussels on Friday.

An EU decision to provide funding to Polyphor under an antibiotic research project was vindicated by Roche's move.