CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Scientists with the University of Illinois developed an antibiotic that targets bacterial infection without hurting helpful bacteria in the gut. Now, a biotechnology company is working to test and develop it further.

The antibiotic agent is called lolamicin. A news release sent out by the U of I explains that the drug is notable for targeting “pathogenic gram-negative bacteria,” which is known to be a difficult bacterial infection to treat. Paul Hergenrother, a chemistry professor at the U of I, produced the drug in his lab.

Hergenrother’s team experimented with the drug, and worked to figure out how much it might impact both harmful — and beneficial — bacteria. They found that in higher doses, lolamicin  killed up to 100% of multidrug-resistant E. coli, K. pneumoniae and E. cloacae clinical isolates. 

Researchers tested how it might impact animals that were infected. When given to mice with antibiotic-resistant septicemia or pneumonia, it helped 100% of the mice with septicemia and 70% of the mice with pneumonia, the team found.

The researcher noted that lolamicin did not negatively impact gut microbiome, unlike clinically approved antibiotics.

With these findings, researchers hope the drug can help them fight Pathogenic E. coli and K. pneumoniae; the bacteria can lead to infections and diseases like septicemia pneumonia, including certain inflammatory conditions and some cancers.

“So, we are hoping these new antibiotics can be life-saving drugs for patients with difficult-to-treat infections, but they also could be useful for other indications,” Hergenrother said.

The drug is still in an early development process. Now with the help of Flightpath Biosciences, Inc., a biotechnology company, researchers said they might see further development.

Additional studies are still needed to show that the drug is safe. After that, researchers will need to submit an “Investigational New Drug” application to the FDA. If it gets approved, Executive Chairman and CEO of Flightpath Biosciences, Matt Tindall, said he hopes human clinical trials begin in 2026.

“The novel mechanism of action and resulting targeted drug candidates are potential game-changers in the treatment of infection-driven diseases, preserving, rather than undermining, an intact healthy microbiome and immune system,” Tindall said. “The lolamicin technology platform is a perfect complement to Flightpath’s strategy of eliminating causal or exacerbating pathogens while sparing the patient’s microbiome.”

The U of I team’s work was published in the journal Nature. You can read more about their findings here.

Hergenrother is a deputy director of the Cancer Center at Illinois, an affiliate of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the U of I.