— New prescription antibiotics are frantically required to fight multi-drug resistant gonorrhea, professionals state
by Katherine Kahn, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
April 30, 2024
Gepotidacin, an investigational antibiotic, showed noninferior to double treatment for the treatment of straightforward urogenital gonorrhea, according to outcomes of the stage III EAGLE-1 trial.
The microbiological success rate was 92.6% with oral gepotidacin compared to 91.2% with ceftriaxone plus oral azithromycin, reported Jonathan Ross, MD, of the University of Birmingham in England, at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Global Congress, held this year in Barcelona.
The adjusted treatment distinction in between the gepotidacin and dual-therapy groups was -0.1% (95% CI -5.6% to 5.5%), falling within prespecified requirements for noninferiority (a lower CI limitation above -10.0%). Negative occasion (AE) rates, in addition to drug-related AEs, were greater in the gepotidacin arm.
“There is a requirement for prescription antibiotics for gonorrhea due to the fact that the existing alternatives we have are really minimal,” Ross informed MedPage Today“We have one [oral] antibiotic left– ceftriaxone.”
“We’ve found out over the last 20 to thirty years that we lose prescription antibiotics gradually. Currently we see indications that level of sensitivity to ceftriaxone is lessening,” he stated. “Therefore it’s a concern of when, instead of if, we lose that last antibiotic.”
Gepotidacin is a first-in-class triazaacenaphthylene, a bactericidal antibiotic that hinders bacterial DNA duplication by obstructing 2 vital topoisomerase enzymes of the Neisseria gonorrhoeae germs. Scientists think that N. gonorrhoeae might be less most likely to end up being resistant to gepotidacin than other prescription antibiotics due to the fact that anomalies in both enzymes would likely be required for resistance to establish.
“Multi-drug resistant gonorrhea … is a significant public health hazard,” Anu Hazra, MD, of Howard Brown Health in Chicago, informed MedPage Today“It might not be at the crosshairs or in the minds of the public, however for those people that operate in sexual health, it’s something that we are really worried about.”
“The obstacle with antibiotic advancement is germs end up being resistant to the antibiotic nearly as quickly as it is launched,” Hazra stated. “So I do not believe [gepotidacin] is going to be our substitute, however a minimum of it may be another tool that we have. I believe we require to continue to have a robust drug pipeline to continue to use us oral ag