Biochemists may have discovered a type of antibiotic that sounds like something out of a fairy tale: It is based on dragon blood.

Scientists from George Mason University recently isolated a substance in the blood of a Komodo dragon that appeared to have powerful germ-killing abilities.

Inspired by the discovery, they created a similar chemical in the lab and dubbed it DRGN-1.

Tests on mice that were given skin wounds infected with two types of bacteria showed that DRGN-1 had three valuable properties: It punched holes in the outer membranes of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, it dissolved the biofilms that glue bacteria together, and it sped skin healing.

The researchers’ study was published last week in the journal Biofilms and Microbiomes. The work was paid for by the military’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency, but the discoverers are now seeking drug-industry backing, too.