Tequin Lawyers

What happened? The antibiotic Tequin, the subject of concerns about side effects, is being taken off the market.

Although manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb is pulling the drug gatifloxacin (Tequin), current stocks of the antibiotic are still available. However, no additional gatifloxacin will be made.

Gatifloxacin is in a class of popular broad-spectrum antibiotics called fluoroquinolones. The antibiotic has been linked to fluctuations in blood sugar severe enough to require hospitalization. Other adverse effects, including kidney failure and liver problems, have led to the withdrawal or restriction of several other drugs from the same class of antibiotics.

Gatifloxacin has been used to treat many different bacterial infections, including pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections, respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infections and certain sexually transmitted diseases. Other antibiotics in the same class include ciprofloxacin (Cipro, others) and levofloxacin (Levaquin, others).