Finance
UK approves GSK's antibiotic for female urinary tract infections
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
The UK has approved GSK's Blujepa for treating female UTIs, marking the first such approval in 30 years. GSK aims to expand its product pipeline and boost revenue.
(Reuters) -Britain's medicines regulator has approved GSK's new antibiotic pill Blujepa to treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections in females, boosting the drugmaker's plans to broaden its revenue streams amid competitive pressures.
The active ingredient in Blujepa, chemically known as gepotidacin, targets and blocks two enzymes that bacteria need to replicate and multiply, making it work against many drug-resistant infections such as E. coli, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said on Thursday.
It added the medicine was approved for females aged 12 and older and weighing at least 40kg (88lbs), and was the first of its kind in nearly 30 years. The recommended dose is two tablets twice daily for five days, approximately every 12 hours.
GSK welcomed the MHRA's decision and said it would work with UK health authorities and the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to make Blujepa available for eligible patients.
Britain's NICE determines the cost-effectiveness of treatments paid for by public funds.
The UK approval for Blujepa follows that of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March.
The FDA this month also accepted GSK's application for a priority review of gepotidacin in treating sexually transmitted urogenital gonorrhoea. A decision on that is expected in December.
GSK is focusing on expanding its product pipeline and banking on new approvals, including in its infectious diseases portfolio, to make up for lost revenues from its best-selling medicines and vaccines and looming HIV treatment patent losses.
While GSK has not given a sales target for Blujepa, it has said it expects the medicine, along with two other medicines in development, to generate peak yearly sales of more than 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion).
It is hoping to reach overall annual sales of over 40 billion pounds by 2031.
($1 = 0.7402 pounds)
(Reporting by Angela Christy and DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru. Editing by Leslie Adler and Mark Potter)
An antibiotic is a type of medication used to treat bacterial infections by killing bacteria or inhibiting their growth.
A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection in any part of the urinary system, including the kidneys, bladder, or urethra.
Drug resistance occurs when bacteria change and become resistant to medications that once effectively treated infections, making them harder to treat.
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