An experimental oral antibiotic is more than 90% effective in treating complicated urinary tract infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria, researchers say.
The drug, Tebipenem pivoxil hydrobromide (HBr) is a carbapenem, a class of drugs which are effective against multidrug resistant pathogens, but are typically delivered intravenously or by injection. The oral version is currently under consideration for U.S. approval. If the bid is successful, it will be the first oral carbapenem greenlit to be marketed in the United States, according to infectious disease experts.
Successful trial
Investigators followed outcomes in more than 1,300 hospitalized adult patients with UTIs or kidney infections. Those who were prescribed oral tebipenem HBr for 7 to 10 days had similar outcomes and safety profiles to those given the intravenous antibiotic ertapenem, reported the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
The infections were cured in more than 93% of patients in each treatment group. Follow-up visits confirmed long-lasting efficacy, and later trials among groups with more severe disease had similar results, CIDRAP’s news outlet reported.
“In the absence of other effective oral agents, tebipenem pivoxil hydrobromide may provide an option for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infection and acute pyelonephritis [bacterial kidney infection] due to antibiotic-resistant uropathogens,” the study authors wrote.
Full findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
