The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has urged Bayer A.G. to remove the drug Baytril from the market on the grounds that its use as an animal antibiotic may eventually compromise the ability of Cipro, also a Bayer product, to fight anthrax and other diseases in people.
Baytril, which is used to treat infectious disease in poultry, is chemically similar to Cipro, with both products belonging to a class of drugs known as fluoroquinolones, among the most powerful antibiotics currently on the market. Hence the concern by FDA, doctors and consumer groups that widespread use of Baytril to treat infections like campylobacter in poultry will cause disease germs to become resistant to closely related drugs like Cipro.