Government approval of a new urethral tract infection medication is imminent.
According to information gathered by the Department of Health and Human Services, more than half of women get UTIs at some point in their lives, making it the first novel treatment for the condition in 20 years.
The antibiotic Gepotidacin’s clinical trial has ended early as a consequence of exceptional effectiveness and safety data thus far, according to a press release from the drug’s manufacturer, GSK, on Thursday. Early in the upcoming year, GSK will apply for approval and peer-reviewed publication.
Due to rising antibiotic resistance, new antibiotics like these are required. The World Health Organization has lately started issuing a list of bacteria that pose the biggest risks to public health due to the widespread development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
Cindy Liu, MD, MPH, PhD, of the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at George Washington University told CNN that “it’s absolutely a huge concern.”
However, according to The Wall Street Journal, antibiotics are not a very lucrative class of medication. They must be taken sparingly to prevent resistance, according to the publication, and the least expensive alternative is typically recommended. The Journal added that a few small companies that produce antibiotics had even recently filed for bankruptcy.
The development of Gepotidacin by GSK has received funding from the US government. Due to UTI resistance to current medications, the business believes the treatment might be a “blockbuster” and earn more than $1 billion, according to the Journal.
According to Liu, “I believe it will be incredibly interesting and crucial to the field to observe both how the drug firms sort of sell this medication and how it does.”
