New Kind of Antibiotic Is First in 30 Years to Treat UTIs That Keep Coming Back – Good News Network
2025-04-23T18:30:36Z
UTIs are the cause of roughly 8 million emergency room visits and 100,000 hospitalizations in the US each year, GSK said.
For the millions of American women and girls who will get a UTI at some point in the next few years, they may be able to treat it with the first new medication approved for the purpose in 3 decades.
The new class of targeted, oral antibiotic for urinary tract infections is designed to bypass developing antibiotic resistance in UTIs and eliminate recurrence of UTIs in women who experience them frequently.
According to CNN, the drug, gepotidacin, will be sold under the brand name Blujepa and is expected to be available in the second half of 2025.
Blujepa is the first new oral antibiotic to treat UTIs to gain approval in more than 20 years, but it’s been almost 30 since the critical bacteria-fighting function of such a treatment has been redesigned.
“We are proud to have developed Blujepa, the first in a new class of oral antibiotics for [uncomplicated UTIs] in nearly three decades, and to bring another option to patients given recurrent infections and rising rates of resistance to existing treatments,” read a statement from GSK, which developed the drug.
Gepotidacin works by targeting two enzymes that bacteria need to copy themselves.
About half of all women will experience a UTI at some point in their lives. One third of these women will have a UTI that returns multiple times. Women contract these infections at a higher rate than men.
UTIs are the cause of roughly 8 million emergency room visits and 100,000 hospitalizations in the US each year, GSK said.
It was funded in part by grants from the US government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
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3,000 women and girls took part in the clinical trials which led to the drug’s approval, with the results demonstrating increased efficacy compared to nitrofurantoin, the most commonly-prescribed antibiotic for UTIs.
Side effects including diarrhea and nausea were reported in 16% and 9% of the females respectively, much of which was described as “mild.”
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While many Americans prefer to treat such infections homeopathically, there are times when infections are more aggressive, or when homeopathic options are not available—for example, if one is traveling. In these cases, a more effective backup is a welcomed option.
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