New approach lessens antibiotic impact

Organic chemistry, pharmacy, environmental chemistry, computational chemistry, photochemistry and microbiology were involved to create biodegradable drugs. Photo: Lena Schöning

A team of scientists of the German Leuphana University of Lüneburg has developed a variant of the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin that is broken down in the target animal and eventually excreted as inactive metabolites. Professor Klaus Kümmerer believes more biodegradable antibiotics will follow suit. Ciprofloxacin is one of the antibiotics heavily used worldwide, especially in the livestock sector since patents have expired. As a result, it is frequently detected in the environment. “The use of C