Antibacterial drug Vabomere approved by FDA for UTIs

Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of a new antibacterial drug on Tuesday for treatment of complicated urinary tract infections in adults.

The FDA approved Vabomere, a drug for adults with complicated urinary tract infections, or cUTI, along with a type of kidney infection known as pyelonephritis caused by specific bacteria.

Vabomere contains the antibacterial meropenem and vaborbactam, which inhibits certain types of resistance mechanisms used by bacteria.

"The FDA is committed to making new safe and effective antibacterial drugs available," Dr. Edward Cox, director of the Office of Antimicrobial Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a press release. "This approval provides an additional treatment option for patients with cUTI, a type of serious bacterial infection."

Vabomere was tested through a clinical trial of 545 adults with cUTI and patients with pyelonephritis. The patients were treated with Vabomere through intravenous treatment. The trials showed that 77 percent of patients treated with Vabomere compared with 73 percent of patients treated with piperacillin/tazobactam had resolved symptoms and negative urine cultures.