Health Highlights: Sept. 1, 2017

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

FDA OKs New Antibacterial Drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday gave its approval to Vabomere, a new intravenous bacteria-fighting drug for people with “complicated” urinary tract infections. Those UTIs include a kidney infection known as pyelonephritis, which is caused by specific bacteria, the FDA said in a statement.

Vabomere contains two agents: meropenem, an antibacterial; and vaborbactam, which curbs certain “resistance mechanisms” that bacteria use to thwart medicines.

Vabomere’s safety and effectiveness was tested in a clinical trial involving 545 adults with complicated UTIs, the FDA said. At the end of treatment, about 98 percent of patients who got the drug had either a cure or an improvement, compared to 94 percent who took another therapy, piperacillin/tazobactam.

The most common adverse reactions with Vabomere were headaches, reaction at the site of IV infusion, and diarrhea. The drug also comes with a risk for serious allergic reactions and seizures, and shouldn’t be used by people with a history of such reactions to a class of drugs called beta-lactams, the FDA noted.

Vabomere is made by Rempex Pharmaceuticals.

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