Proactive Investors - GSK PLC (LSE:LON:GSK, NYSE:GSK) has hailed the results from a late-stage trial of a new oral antibiotic for gonorrhea, which met its primary endpoint of at last matching the current standard treatments.
Chris Corsico, senior vice president, development, at GSK, said: “With rising incidence rates and concern around growing resistance to existing treatments, gonorrhea poses a threat to public health globally.
“These positive headline results demonstrate the potential for gepotidacin to provide a novel oral treatment option in the face of rising resistance and for patients who cannot take other treatments due to allergies or intolerance.”
Detailed results from the EAGLE-1 phase III trial will be presented at an upcoming scientific meeting and shared with global health authorities, GSK added.
Cases of sexually transmitted gonorrhea have soared recently as resistance to antibiotics has grown.
World health bodies estimate there are more than 80 million new cases every year with cases soaring in the Asia-Pacific region.
GSK, which is additionally working on a gonorrhea vaccine, is also developing gepotidacin as a treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections (uUTI).
If approved, it could be the first in a new class of oral antibiotics in uUTI in over 20 years said the pharma.