Gatifloxacin

Gatifloxacin (brand names Gatiflo, Tequin, and Zymar) is an antibiotic of the fourth-generation fluoroquinolone family that, like other members of that family, inhibits the bacterial enzymes DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV.

It was patented in 1986 and approved for medical use in 1999.

Side effects

A Canadian study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in March 2006, claimed that Tequin can have significant side effects including dysglycemia. An editorial by Jerry Gurwitz in the same issue called for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider giving Tequin a black box warning. This editorial followed distribution of a letter dated February 15 by Bristol-Myers Squibb to health care providers indicating action taken with the FDA to strengthen warnings for the medication. Subsequently, Bristol-Myers Squibb reported it would stop manufacture of Tequin, end sales of the drug after existing stockpiles were exhausted, and return all rights to Kyorin. Other reported, albeit rare, side effects included one report of rhabdomyolysis and a few reports of heart attacks in at-risk patients.

By contrast, ophthalmic gatifloxacin is generally well tolerated. The observed systemic concentration of the drug, following oral administration, of 400 mg (0.01 ounces) gatifloxacin is approximately 800 times higher than that of the 0.5% gatifloxacin eye drop. Given as an eye drop, gatifloxacin has very low systemic exposure. Therefore, the systemic exposures resulting from the gatifloxacin ophthalmic solution are not likely to pose any risk for systemic toxicities.