New pills offer hope against gonorrhoea as drug resistance tightens grip | India News
New Delhi: After decades of losing drug resistance, doctors finally have a new weapon against gonorrhea, a common sexually transmitted infection that has steadily outpaced one antibiotic after another. The recent approval of two new oral drugs by the US Food and Drug Administration has reopened a narrow treatment window for a disease that is dangerously close to being incurable.The FDA cleared zoliflodacin (Nuzolvence) and gepotidacin (Blujepa) in December 2025 to treat uncomplicated gonorrhea. Their arrival comes at an important time, especially for countries like India, where ceftriaxone remains the only effective antibiotic in regular use.“Gonorrhea is a major STD and immunity is increasing rapidly,” said Dr Kabir Sardana, head of dermatology at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. He attributes this trend mainly to the misuse of antibiotics by general practitioners and quacks. “Azithromycin, once a first-line drug, is now largely ineffective because it was prescribed indiscriminately for everything from minor infections to acne,” he said.Experts say that urgency is reflected in global surveillance. Dr Nirita Hazarika, Professor and Head, Department of Dermatology, AIIMS Guwahati, noted that WHO’s 2025 Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report has classified drug-resistant gonorrhea as a high-predominance pathogen. He said the approval of the two new oral drugs marks a significant milestone, as clinical trials have shown cure rates comparable to current standard therapies. “These drugs expand treatment options for uncomplicated gonorrhea at a time when resistance to cephalosporins (ceftriaxone) and macrolides (azithromycin) is increasing,” he said.Ceftriaxone, now the last reliable option in India, is itself under pressure. Widely used for other infections, it faces a real risk of resistance if abuse continues. “If ceftriaxone fails, we will have virtually no antibiotics for gonorrhea,” warned Dr. Sardana.Gonorrhea affects both men and women and usually causes urethritis, but untreated infection can increase the risk of infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, and HIV. India already bears a high burden of sexually transmitted infections, with doctors warning that the failure of existing drugs will have serious public health consequences.Antibiotics have a long history of defeating them. Sulfa drugs, penicillins, tetracyclines, quinolones, and cefixime were all abandoned over time with the emergence of resistance. By 2007, quinolones were phased out entirely due to widespread failure.Experts say the new drugs are promising but need to be used with caution. Seema Sood, professor at AIIMS New Delhi, said that zoliflodacin and zepotidacin have shown strong activity in studies for complicated urogenital infections.India’s widespread antimicrobial resistance crisis adds urgency. ICMR surveillance has identified increasing resistance associated with over-the-counter antibiotic use. Prof. Bimal Kumar Das, HOD, Microbiology, AIIMS New Delhi, said new antibiotics are important to tackle AMR, while Dr. Hitender Gautam noted that early access in India could help control resistant infections, with zipotidacin showing potential beyond gonorrhea.
