A potential drug offers rare promise in the fight against antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” after it successfully targeted a bacterium that causes life-threatening infections in hospital patients, research has shown.

Superbugs have emerged as a leading health threat as antibiotics and other treatments become ineffective through excessive or careless use. While the drug being developed by Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche has been tested on only one type of bacteria, the way it works suggests it could be effective against other microbes — and encourage much-needed research investment in the field.

“We discovered a new way of killing bacteria. You could imagine tweaking the chemistry to address other targets,” said Michael Lobritz, global head of infectious diseases at Roche Pharma Research & Early Development. Lobritz is co-author with experts from Harvard university of the two papers published in Nature on Wednesday.