Oral Cefixime Availability Improves

Treatment for uncomplicated gonorrhea now under manufacture again

TUESDAY, April 29 (HealthDay News) -- Availability of cefixime, the standard treatment for uncomplicated urogenital or rectal gonorrhea, should improve as it is now being manufactured by Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Baltimore, according to an article published in the April 25 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Availability of the drug had become limited in the United States since Wyeth Pharmaceuticals of Collegeville, Pa., discontinued manufacture in 2002. The drug is a cephalosporin, the only class of antibiotics that the CDC recommends for the treatment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections.

An injection-only cephalosporin, ceftriaxone is recommended for treatment of all types of gonorrhea infection, while a single 400-mg dose of cefixime is recommended for uncomplicated cases.

Lupin Pharmaceuticals obtained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in 2004 to manufacture and market cefixime, and has since introduced oral suspensions of the drug in 100 mg/5 mL and 200 mg/5 mL doses. Public health pricing is available for the 400 mg cefixime tablets.

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