First new antibiotic since 1990s found for gonorrhoea

Scientists have found the first new antibiotic treatment for gonorrhoea since the 1990s amid fears over the rise of untreatable” strains of the sexually transmitted infection.

- REBECCA THOMAS

Gepotidacin, an antibiotic currently used to treat urinary tract infections, can also treat gonorrhoea, experts have found.

It comes after researchers warned last month that gonorrhoea could become “impossible to treat” as antibiotic-resistant infections continue to rise.

The research, published in The Lancet yesterday, compared the treatment of 622 patients for gonorrhoea with the current standard injected antibiotic, called ceftriaxone, with a new treatment using an oral antibiotic pill, gepotidacin.

They found the pill to be as effective as the current standard treatment and also found it worked against the strains of the STI Neisseria gonorrhoeae that are resistant to existing antibiotics.

An editorial published alongside the study warned that global targets to reduce the number of new cases of gonorrhoea among people aged 15 to 49 from 82.3 million per year in 2020 to 8.23 million per year in 2030 might not be achieved due to the resistant strains.