F.D.A. Approves Two New Drugs to Treat Gonorrhea

AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.The sexually transmitted disease has become increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics.Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea.Credit...Science Photo Library/Science SourceDec. 12, 2025The Food and Drug Administration has approved two new antibiotics for the treatment of gonorrhea, giving health care providers powerful new weapons against a sexually transmitted disease that has become increasingly hard to treat.Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea, is a wily nemesis that has outsmarted every previous antibiotic deployed against it, including the sole therapy that remains effective.On Friday, the F.D.A. approved a new antibiotic, zoliflodacin, a day after an article published in The Lancet reported that a clinical trial had found that a single oral dose of the drug was safe and effective against gonorrhea. The disease infects more than 80 million people each year and can have serious health implications.A day earlier, the agency approved the expanded use of another new antibiotic to treat gonorrhea. The drug, gepotidacin, developed by GSK, had previously been approved to treat urinary tract infections in women.Infectious disease experts were buoyed by the news.“Antibiotic resistance is something that keeps all of us up at night so anytime a new antimicrobial comes to market is a cause for celebration,” said Dr. Aniruddha Hazra, medical director of the Sexual Wellness Clinic at University of Chicago School of Medicine.In the United States, there were nearly 600,000 cases of gonorrhea last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT