FDA approves first new antibiotic for UTIs in nearly 30 years
The FDA approved a new antibiotic for UTIs from drugmaker GSK. The drug, Blujepa, is for women and girls ages 12 and up.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the first drug in a new class of antibiotics for treating urinary tract infections — the first time that’s happened in nearly 30 years.
The drug, a pill called Blujepa from drugmaker GSK, was approved for women and girls 12 and up with uncomplicated UTIs — the most common type of the infection in women, often caused by bacteria including E. coli.
Most UTIs are easy to treat, usually clearing up within a few days or weeks after a short course of antibiotics.
But the bacteria that commonly cause them are increasingly becoming resistant to the standard antibiotics, making treatment more difficult, said Dr. Sovrin Shah, an associate professor of urology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
More than 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2019 study found resistance to at least one drug in more than 92% of bacteria that can cause UTIs. Around 80% showed resistance to at least two.
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