title: Besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension: emerging evidence of its therapeutic value in bacterial conjunctivitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To outline the pharmacodynamics, efficacy and safety of besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension 0.6% in the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  MEDLINE database was searched to review recent pharmacodynamic and clinical studies evaluating besifloxacin and comparing besifloxacin to other topical antibiotics for ophthalmic use. Findings were limited to full-text articles from clinical journals in the English language.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bacterial resistance is a common source for treatment failure in bacterial conjunctivis. Besifloxacin, a novel fourth generation synthetic fluoroquinolone is likely to show lower resistance rates due to its mechanism of action and its short-term use for ocular infections only (decreased systemic exposure). Besifloxacin displays improved pharmacodynamic properties compared to other commonly used fluoroquinolones and has shown to be efficacious and safe in clinical studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Besifloxacin ophthalmic suspension 0.6% provides safe and efficacious treatment for bacterial conjunctivitis. The factors leading to bacterial resistance are diminished, which allows besifloxacin to be a favorable treatment option.
authors.affiliation: The University of Western Ontario, St. Joseph's Hospital, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khimdas
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Visscher
authors.forename: C M L
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hutnik
keywords: besifloxacin; conjunctivitis; fluoroquinolone; pharmacodynamics