New drug found effective for treating complicated urinary tract infections: Research

A new drug combination is more effective, especially against persistent, drug-resistant infections, according to an international study conducted by a Rutgers expert comparing new and older therapies for complex urinary tract infections. Describing the results in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers in the ALLIUM Phase 3 clinical trial showed that a combination of the drugs cefepime and enmetazobactam was more effective in treating both complicated urinary tract infections and acute pyelonephritis (AP), a bacterial infection causing kidney inflammation than a standard treatment combining piperacillin and tazobactam. Urinary tract infections are considered complicated when they are associated with risk factors - including fevers, sepsis, urinary obstruction, or catheters - that increase the danger of failing antibiotic therapy. Kaye added this drug combination also fights an often-dangerous category of bacterial illnesses caused by pathogens known as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) infections, named for an enzyme the bacteria produce. ESBL-producing bacteria can't be killed effectively by many of the antibiotics conventionally used to treat infections, such as penicillins and cephalosporins.