Ceftaroline

Ceftaroline (trade names Teflaro and Zinforo) is a cephalosporin-type antibiotic that is active against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2010 for treating community-acquired bacterial pneumonia and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections, including MRSA.

By 2014, however, MRSA had mutated into strains that are resistant to ceftaroline. S. Mobashery at the University of Notre Dame, J. A. Hermoso at the Spanish National Research Council, and colleagues showed that the cause of the resistance is a previously unknown mechanism that prevents the antibiotic from binding to a bacterial protein. The researchers believe that this mechanism may also exist in other antibiotic-resistant organisms.