Antibiotics That Are Causing Peripheral Neuropathy!

Quinolones are a key element of physicians’ antibiotic arsenal, but a growing number of lawsuits allege that drug makers downplayed a serious risk associated with these drugs: nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy.

It was hoped that quinolone antibiotics’ artificial nature would help them avoid some of the problems seen in other antibiotics like antibiotic resistance. While quinolone antibiotics have not proven full proof against antibiotic resistance, they have proven to be a particularly effective group of drugs and have joined the ranks of important antibiotics. This includes drugs like Avelox, Cipro, and Levaquin. However, concerns have arisen that some patients may experience a particularly serious side effect from quinolone antibiotics: peripheral neuropathy.

Peripheral neuropathy is Latin for “damage to the outer nerves,” referring to the main process of the disease. In Peripheral neuropathy, nerves of extremities like hands and feet start to malfunction, and sometimes die, causing peripheral neuropathy symptoms.

Peripheral neuropathy symptoms include pain and numbness in the extremities. Often, one of the first peripheral neuropathy symptoms is a tingling in the effected area, similar to the feeling of a limb “falling asleep.”

Many patients taking quinolone antibiotics who went on to suffer from peripheral neuropathy suffer from cases classified as severe. And many cases of peripheral neuropathy may be permanent, since nerves do not regenerate as readily as some other tissues within the body.

New quinolone antibiotic lawsuits have begun to allege that drug companies bear a responsibility for peripheral neuropathy. These lawsuits allege that drug makers have been aware of this risk—or reasonably should have been aware due to their legal obligations to monitor reports of new post-market complications.

Allegedly, research dating back to 1992 has demonstrated a link between quinolone antibiotics and peripheral neuropathy. Research studies have continued to mount suggesting that peripheral neuropathy can be a side effect of quinolone antibiotics, to the point that in 2013, the FDA mandated changes to the labeling of Avelox, Cipro, Levaquin, and several other common fluoroquinolones advising patients of this possible risk.

Additionally, peripheral neuropathy lawsuits may allege that drug makers were not only aware of these risks, but that deliberately downplayed these risks, continuing to aggressively market their drugs in spite of the alleged anger of peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy lawsuits generally seek to recoup the cost of medical care, lost wages due to hospital time or disability, legal fees, and other cost allegedly caused by quinolone antibiotics.

Antibiotics Being Overused-Deadly Combinations



Hospitals continue to overuse antibiotics despite warnings that pervasive use can lead to drug resistance and cause billions of dollars in excess healthcare costs, according to a retrospective analysis of 505 hospital members of the Premier health alliance.

Inappropriate use of antibiotic combinations was noted in nearly 80% of the facilities analyzed, and overuse of the most common therapies led to an excess spending of nearly $13 million.

Healthcare organizations are encouraged to develop a list of antibiotic “never combinations”—those for which there is no evidence to support continued use—and create an alert system to flag when the drugs are ordered.

Combating overuse of antibiotics remains a major public health concern. Their use is the most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alert issued last year.

The federal agency estimates at least 2 million people in the U.S. each year become infected with drug-resistant bacteria and at least 23,000 die as a direct result. Over the past few years, the CDC, Food and Drug Administration and several medical specialty organizations through the Choosing Wisely campaign have issued warnings or recommendations to encourage safe use of antibiotics.

Using administrative data from Premier, the company’s researchers and the CDC’s associate director for Healthcare Associated Infection Prevention Programs, Dr. Arjun Srinivasan investigated the incidence and economic impact of potentially overused antibiotics used by hospitals between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 31, 2011. Of the 505 hospitals included, researchers found evidence of “potentially inappropriate, redundant antimicrobial coverage” for 23 antimicrobial combinations in 78%, or 394 of the hospitals. This accounted for 32,507 individual cases of patients who received at least two consecutive days of one or more of the antibiotic combinations.