The FDA has issued a warning that fluoroquinolone antibiotics could cause a serious type of nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are a family of widely used antibiotics, which include Ciprofloxacin (Cipro), Levofloxacin (Levaquin), and Moxifloxacin (Avelox), as well as other popular and commonly prescribed drugs.

Quinolones are very effective against a wide range of bacterial infections. However, evidence in the form of medical reports and peripheral neuropathy lawsuits is piling up against fluoroquinolone antibiotics, alleging these drugs may cause a type of peripheral nerve damage called quinolone peripheral neuropathy.

When a patient develops peripheral neuropathy, the nerves in the hands and feet, and sometime the arms and legs, falter. Peripheral neuropathy encompasses a wide variety of types of nerve damage, meaning peripheral neuropathy symptoms may vary patient to patient. Some patients experience pain, while others claim to suffer form numbness.

Nerve damage from peripheral neuropathy can also cause a tingling sensation and paralysis in the afflicted parts of the body, similar to the unpleasant sensation people get when a limb falls asleep or when you hit your funny bone. These reports of quinolone peripheral neuropathy eventually led the FDA to issue a Drug Safety Announcement, advising patients and their physicians that fluoroquinolones could cause peripheral neuropathy.

FDA Quinolone Peripheral Neuropathy Warning

In an August 2013 Drug Safety Communication, the FDA stated that the agency was updating the prescribing information for all fluoroquinolone antibiotics, including Cipro, Levaquin, and Avelox. The Safety Announcement did acknowledge that topical formulations, that is creams for external use only, of the same drugs did not seem to be associated with peripheral neuropathy like their pill-counterparts.

While the FDA did not advise patients to stop taking drugs without speaking to their physicians, the agency did advise physicians to take patients off fluoroquinolones at the first sign of peripheral neuropathy or nerve damage.

Unfortunately, it is hard to anticipate the exact course of a patient’s recovery from peripheral neuropathy. Some patients may recovery quickly, while others may experience peripheral neuropathy symptoms for years. In some cases, fluoroquinolone peripheral neuropathy symptoms may be permanent, and patients may suffer from tingling, pain, numbness, or tremors for the rest of their lives.

A fluoroquinolone lawsuit investigation has been launched to explore the possibility of legal action against the makers of fluoroquinolones, who may have been aware—or reasonably should have been aware—of the risk for peripheral neuropathy to their consumers. Such a peripheral neuropathy lawsuit could further allege that in spite of this knowledge, drug makers continued to aggressively promoted these drugs, thus endangering the public.