Fetroja — Compare Prices at US & Canada Pharmacies

Fetroja (cefiderocol) is a genuinely novel antibiotic — a cephalosporin engineered with a siderophore side chain that mimics the iron-binding molecules bacteria use to scavenge iron from their environment. Gram-negative bacteria actively pull it through their own iron-transport channels, which lets it reach targets that other beta-lactams struggle to penetrate, including some of the most resistant organisms in hospital medicine: carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii. It's approved for complicated urinary tract infections and hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia in adults, and it sits in WHO's Reserve category — the "last resort" tier of the AWaRe framework, meant to be held back for infections where standard options have already failed or aren't expected to work.

The clinical trial data behind Fetroja carries an important caveat that shapes how it's actually used: in the pivotal CREDIBLE-CR trial, which enrolled critically ill patients with carbapenem-resistant infections, Fetroja was associated with higher all-cause mortality than best-available comparator therapy, an imbalance driven mainly by patients with Acinetobacter infections. The FDA label carries a warning about this finding rather than a boxed warning, and it's a key reason infectious disease specialists reserve Fetroja for cases where susceptibility testing confirms it's needed and monitor these patients closely, rather than using it as a default choice for resistant Gram-negative infections.

A practical quirk worth knowing: cefiderocol can cause false-positive results on urine dipstick tests for protein, ketones, or occult blood, so lab results from a patient on this drug need confirmation with an alternate testing method rather than being taken at face value.

Contraindications

4 CONTRAINDICATIONS FETROJA is contraindicated in patients with a known history of severe hypersensitivity to cefiderocol or other beta-lactam antibacterial drugs, or any other component of FETROJA [see Warnings and Precautions (5.2) and Adverse Reactions (6.1) ] . FETROJA is contraindicated in patients with a known history of severe hypersensitivity to cefiderocol and other beta-lactam antibacterial drugs or other components of FETROJA. ( 4 )

Known drug interactions

7 DRUG INTERACTIONS Use alternate testing methods to confirm positive results of dipstick tests (urine protein, ketones, or occult blood). ( 7.1 ) 7.1 Drug/Laboratory Test Interactions Cefiderocol may result in false-positive results in dipstick tests (urine protein, ketones, or occult blood). Use alternate clinical laboratory methods of testing to confirm positive tests.

Pregnancy & breastfeeding

8.1 Pregnancy Risk Summary There are no available data on FETROJA use in pregnant women to evaluate for a drug-associated risk of major birth defects, miscarriage, or adverse maternal or fetal outcomes. Available data from published prospective cohort studies, case series, and case reports over several decades with cephalosporin use in pregnant women have not established drug-associated risks of major birth defects, miscarriage, or adverse maternal or fetal outcomes (see Data ) .