How a made-in-India antibiotic opens new front against superbugs

Jun 10, 2026 | 09:38 IST

Zaynich works by pairing an old antibiotic with a bacteria-neutralising agent. But cost will be a factor

Sathyamurthy R was in his mid-30s when he was finally cured of tuberculosis. Then came the bad news: he had lost his hearing. In the early 2000s, many patients like him survived tuberculosis. The antibiotic streptomycin, used alongside a cocktail of other drugs, cleared infection from their lungs but also destroyed delicate inner ear cells, making hearing loss permanent.
Former chief scientist of the World Health Organisation Dr Soumya Swaminathan, who was working at National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis in Chennai at the time, says she saw such cases regularly. “We told patients: your TB has to be treated for you to live, we can deal with the disability,” she recalls.

TOI

TOI

How a made-in-India antibiotic opens new front against superbugs

Zaynich works by pairing an old antibiotic with a bacteria-neutralising agent. But cost will be a factor

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TOI

How a made-in-India antibiotic opens new front against superbugs

Zaynich works by pairing an old antibiotic with a bacteria-neutralising agent. But cost will be a factor

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