Sulopenem versus Amoxicillin/Clavulanate for the Treatment of Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection.

BACKGROUND

Existing antibiotics for uncomplicated urinary tract infections are becoming less reliably effective owing to increasing antimicrobial resistance. Our objective was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of sulopenem/probenecid for uncomplicated urinary tract infections.

METHODS

We conducted a double-blind, randomized, controlled, noninferiority trial of 5 days of sulopenem versus amoxicillin/clavulanate for women with uncomplicated urinary tract infection. The primary end point was overall success, defined as combined clinical cure and microbiologic eradication by day 12, evaluated in the microbiologic-modified intent-to-treat population, which comprised all randomly assigned patients who received any trial medication and had a positive urine culture with 105 colony-forming units (CFU)/ml or more of an Enterobacterales uropathogen (e.g., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species).

RESULTS

A total of 2222 patients were enrolled, and the median age was 51 years (interquartile range, 35-62 years). Ninety-one (9.2%) patients in the primary population (microbiologic-modified intent-to-treat population), the combined population of patients with a positive baseline urine culture and without regard to amoxicillin/clavulanate susceptibility, had a baseline pathogen resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics. Overall success in the microbiologic-modified intent-to-treat population occurred in 318 of 522 (60.9%) participants treated with sulopenem versus 260 of 468 (55.6%) participants treated with amoxicillin/clavulanate (difference, 5.4 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.8 to 11.5), meeting criteria for noninferiority. In the primary population with a baseline uropathogen susceptible to amoxicillin/clavulanate, success occurred in 296 of 480 (61.7%) participants treated with sulopenem versus 243 of 442 (55.0%) participants treated with amoxicillin/clavulanate (difference, 6.7 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.3 to 13.0). In the primary population with a baseline uropathogen not susceptible to amoxicillin/clavulanate, success occurred in 22 of 42 (52.4%) patients treated with sulopenem versus 17 of 25 (68.0%) patients treated with amoxicillin/clavulanate (difference, -15.6 percentage points; 95% CI, -37.5 to 9.1]. Treatment-emergent adverse events occurred more frequently with sulopenem compared with amoxicillin/clavulanate, including diarrhea (8.1% vs. 4.1%), nausea (4.3% vs. 2.9%), and headache (2.2% vs. 1.5%).

CONCLUSIONS

Sulopenem was noninferior to amoxicillin/clavulanate for the treatment of adult women with uncomplicated urinary tract infection, but was associated with more frequent mild adverse events. (Funded by Iterum Therapeutics; REASSURE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT05584657.).