FDA Should Reject Cattle Drug
Hartford Courant
If the federal Food and Drug Administration moves ahead with a plan to approve a new, potent antibiotic for use in cattle, it will risk undermining the effectiveness of an entire class of powerful antibiotics to treat humans. That’s too big a gamble – especially for people who already rely on one of those drugs to fight life-threatening infections.
Cefquinome is specifically designed to treat bovine respiratory disease, a pneumonia-like illness common in cattle. It’s the fourth generation of a highly powerful family of antibiotics – cephalosporins – none of which have been approved for use in animals.
Only one other medicine from that family is authorized for use in the United States. Called cefepime, it’s the drug of last resort for humans suffering from infections that would otherwise be invincible.
The Beef Blog 