FDA approves first new antibiotics to treat gonorrhea in decades, with hope to combat drug resistance

Effective treatment options for gonorrhea have been shrinking fast in recent years as the bacteria responsible for the infection, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, develops resistance to many of the medications widely used to treat it. NIH-NIAID/Image Point FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

For the first time in decades, the US Food and Drug Administration has signed off on new antibiotics to fight gonorrhea. The approvals come at a critical moment: The sexually transmitted infection is growing harder to treat, and cases continue to climb nationwide.

The FDA announced Friday that it has approved zoliflodacin, sold under the name Nuzolvence, as a single-dose oral treatment for gonorrhea in the urogenital area in adults and adolescents 12 and older who weigh at least 77 pounds. The medica