Hoping to leverage its antibiotic expertise, GSK has agreed to pay US$66 M upfront to gain an exclusive license to commercialise Spero Therapeutics’ tebipenem HBr in all regions except for Japan and certain other Asian countries. Tebipenem HBr is a late-stage antibiotic being developed by Spero as the first oral carbapenem antibiotic to potentially treat complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI), including pyelonephritis, caused by certain bacteria. Interestingly, the deal comes three months after Spero received a CRL from the US FDA regarding its NDA application for tebipenem due to insufficient data.