(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved GSK’s drug for a common type of urinary tract infection (UTI) in women and adolescent girls, one of five new approvals the British drugmaker has been expecting this year.
The antibiotic, branded as Blujepa, is approved for women and girls aged 12 years and older to treat uncomplicated UTIs, which are bacterial infections affecting the lower urinary tract in otherwise healthy individuals.
GSK is banking on sales from new drugs in its infectious diseases portfolio, including its recently launched respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, to make up for lost revenues from some of its best-selling medicines and HIV treatments due to going off patent by the end of this decade.
Over half of all women will experience uncomplicated UTIs in their lifetime, and around 30% will suffer at least one recurrent episode, according to GSK.
(Reporting by Sneha S K and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Maggie Fick in London; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
