Antibiotics such as Cipro might lead to tendon ruptures

7/9/2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON - Drug safety officials Tuesday imposed the government's most urgent safety warning on Cipro and similar antibiotics, citing evidence that they may lead to tendon ruptures, a serious injury that can leave patients incapacitated and needing extensive surgery.

The Food and Drug Administration ordered makers of flouroquinolone drugs - a potent class of antibacterials - to add a prominent "black box" warning to their products and develop new literature for patients emphasizing the risks.

Tendon ruptures are normally thought of as sports injuries, generally occurring among men in their mid-30s. The link to treatment with the antibiotics is highly unusual, and scientists still don't fully understand why it happens. However, FDA officials emphasized that many of the serious injuries appear to be preventable if patients stop taking the drug at the first sign of pain or swelling in a tendon, call their doctor, and switch to another antibiotic.

The two leading drugs covered by the warning are Cipro, made by Bayer, and Levaquin, which is made by Ortho-McNeil. Cipro became a household name during the anthrax attacks of 2001. It is effective against that deadly bacteria, and is among the drugs stockpiled by the government in case of a bio-terror attack. In everyday medicine, Cipro is often used to treat urinary tract infections. Levaquin is generally used to treat respiratory infections. The FDA warnings do not apply to fluoroquinolone drops used to treat eye infections.

The FDA's action came after the consumer group Public Citizen petitioned - and later sued - the agency for such warnings.