A Sussex research firm leading the fight to develop a cure for a deadly hospital superbug is working towards clinical trials of a new drug.

Destiny Pharma, based at the University of Sussex Falmer campus, has won another £500,000 in funding to add the money to the £1.2 million it has already received towards its groundbreaking work.

The funding came as the Government unveiled its plan to clamp down on the superbug, MRSA, which kills thousands of patients and is estimated to cost the NHS more than £1 billion a year.

The company's small team of scientists has been working on a new drug that would potentially kill off the dangerous bug.

But in recent months, new and virulent strains have emerged that are resistant to even the most powerful antibiotics, such as vancomycin.

Chief executive Dr Bill Love said: "Killer bugs are becoming much more resistant because antibiotics are prescribed inappropriately and the population expects to be offered them when they are ill.

"Unfortunately, at the end of a course of antibiotics, some bugs will still survive and can mutate into forms resistant to the antibiotic used."

MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) kills between 5,000 and 15,000 people in the UK every year.

Figures released last week revealed Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust had 86 cases in 2001 and 74 cases last year.

Dr Paul Donaldson, consultant microbiologist and infection control chief, said: "Our infection prevention and control team has developed a programme of training for all staff on hand-washing, which must be done thoroughly to prevent cross-infection.

"Many staff also use the "tottle", a bottle of alcohol gel which is carried at all times and is used to wash hands when moving from one patient to another."

The new drugs being developed by Destiny Pharma, codenamed XF, can help solve the problem because they are designed to target and kill specific superbugs.

Dr Love said: "Our goal is to raise the funding to clinically test our XFs against MRSA. XF is designed to be active against superbugs on the skin.

"Our next generation XF compounds will be designed to fight superbugs deep within the body and, if achieved, would represent a breakthrough akin to the discovery of penicillin."