In January, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health discovered a strain of gonorrhea in two patients who had a reduced response to five different types of antibiotics. These variants have been seen elsewhere in the world, but this is the first case in the United States. Patients have been successfully treated with existing medications, but public health experts have warned of the possibility of future cases.
This is where joliflodacin can help. This is not just a new antibiotic, but the first of a new class of antibiotics called spiropyrimidinetriones. The product is being developed and tested through a partnership between the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership, a non-profit established by WHO, and US-based Innoviva Specialty Therapeutics. The non-profit organization's goal was to encourage the development of new antibiotics. This is because these drugs do not have the potential benefit of other medical breakthroughs.
The clinical trial involved 930 patients with gonorrhea at 16 trial sites in five countries, including the United States. They were randomly assigned to receive either a single dose of oral zoliflodacin or an injection of ceftriaxone combined with oral azithromycin. The results showed that the effectiveness of the new drug was equivalent to that of the existing drug. However, studies have shown that zoliflodacin is less effective against gonorrhea in the throat than for genital or anal infections.
This is a groundbreaking advancement as widespread use of this new drug could not only treat gonorrhea but also prevent the spread of resistant strains. Because the drug was developed specifically for gonorrhea and will only be used to treat it, it may take longer for bacteria to develop resistance to it. In contrast, ceftriaxone and azithromycin are used for other infections, and the more you use them, the more likely it is that your gonorrhea will become resistant to them.
Edward Hook, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the University of Alabama and former ASHA board member, served as protocol chair for the study. “It has been at least 25 years since the last new antibiotic was approved to treat gonorrhea,” Hook told ASHA. During that period, the problem of progressive antibiotic resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae presented increasing challenges to clinicians. “This drug represents a long-awaited potential next step in the treatment of patients with gonorrhea.”
Jolipodacin could hit the market as early as 2025.