Expert discusses sulopenem for uncomplicated UTI

In this video, A. Lenore Ackerman, MD, PhD, discusses the potential usage of sulopenem etzadroxil/probenecid (oral sulopenem) for the proposed indication of adult patients with uncomplicated urinary tract infection caused by designated susceptible bacteria. Ackerman is an assistant professor in the department of surgery, division of urology at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is an advisor for GlaxoSmithKline.

Transcription:

How does sulopenem compare to existing treatments for uncomplicated UTIs in terms of efficacy, safety, and potential for resistance development? What factors may influence a health care professional's decision to choose sulopenem over other options?

What probably should be happening is that we should be reserving these antibiotics only for those situations in which someone has a multi-drug-resistant infection for which there are options that are not available otherwise. And really, when we talk about these more advanced, broader spectrum antibiotics, I think it's kind of interesting to me that the choice was made to try to go after an indication for uncomplicated UTI. There are some reasons why in terms of how it did initially in treating complicated UTIs, but I really think there's a very, very narrow place for these antibiotics and uncomplicated community presentations of UTI just because we really shouldn't need this kind of "big gun" for a lot of those infections. But obviously, there are people coming in and there's this gray line, I think, between what's defined as an uncomplicated UTI in patients that are at high risk for progressive infections. And maybe there's a place for it in those patients who've got demonstrated multi-drug-resistant infections and a high possibility of progressing to more systemic infections. But I think in general, we really have to be careful about the use of those kinds of drugs in this population. And there are some, I think, societies that would classify highly drug-resistant infections as being kind of complicated to begin with. I think this antibiotic is going to have its role in that gray zone between high-risk, uncomplicated and complicated UTI. So you have your patient who maybe is on some kind of immunomodulatory medication, who is just coming in with seemingly localized symptoms and drug-resistant infections, maybe that's a place that you want to use it, but I would think that's going to be a very small sliver of your population for whom it would really be appropriate.

This transcript was edited for clarity.