Besifloxacin Ophthalmic
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic eye drop used to treat bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye caused by bacteria).
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 4 clinical label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
Besifloxacin (Besivance) is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic eye drop for bacterial conjunctivitis (pink eye caused by bacteria) that kills germs by blocking two enzymes they need to copy and repair their DNA. On the U.S. market since about 2009, it is a newer and less familiar choice than the older antibiotic drops. Most people tolerate it well, and the usual complaints are mild eye redness, brief blurred vision or irritation after a drop. Use it for the full course, and call your prescriber if the eye is not improving or seems to be getting worse, since that can mean another germ, including a fungus, is overgrowing.
Clinical pearls
- Turn the closed bottle upside down and shake it once before every dose, since this suspension settles between uses.
- Leave contact lenses out for the whole course and while any signs of infection remain, not just at dosing times.
- Space the three daily doses several hours apart and finish all seven days, even if the eye looks clear sooner.
- It treats bacterial pink eye only, so it will not help viral pink eye or allergy-related red, itchy eyes.
Patient information guide A plain-language walkthrough of Besifloxacin Ophthalmic, written from its FDA label.
What Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is used for
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Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is used for one condition:
- Bacterial conjunctivitis caused by susceptible bacteria (Besivance eye drops)
The label lists many bacteria it works against, including Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. For some of them, effectiveness was studied in fewer than 10 infections.
How Besifloxacin Ophthalmic works
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Besifloxacin is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. It blocks two bacterial enzymes, DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV. Bacteria need these to copy, repair and divide their DNA, so blocking them kills the bacteria.
It works differently from several other antibiotic classes. It may work on germs resistant to those antibiotics. Some cross-resistance with other fluoroquinolones has been seen in lab studies.
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic dosage
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Besivance is an eye drop. It is generally used three times a day, 4 to 12 hours apart, for 7 days.
- Turn the closed bottle upside down and shake it once before use.
- Put one drop in the affected eye(s).
- Follow your prescriber's directions and the label.
Dosing details from the FDA-approved label
From the Besifloxacin Ophthalmic prescribing information (“Dosage and Administration”). Doses are set by your prescriber for your product, condition, kidney function and age — never change a dose on your own.
- Affected eye(s) (besifloxacin ophthalmic)
- Instill one drop in the affected eye(s) 3 times a day, 4 to 12 hours apart for 7 days
- Invert closed bottle and shake once before use
Read the label’s full dosing text
2 DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION Invert closed bottle and shake once before use. Instill one drop in the affected eye(s) 3 times a day, 4 to 12 hours apart for 7 days. Instill one drop in the affected eye(s) 3 times a day, 4 to 12 hours apart for 7 days. ( 2 )
Read the full Dosage and Administration section on DailyMed →
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic side effects
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Side effects are mostly mild and limited to the eye.
Common side effects
- Redness of the eye (the most common, about 2% of patients)
- Blurred vision
- Eye pain
- Eye irritation
- Eye itching
- Headache
When to get medical help
- Call your doctor if your eye gets worse or does not improve, since long use may allow other germs, including fungi, to overgrow (super-infection).
- Stop the drops and call your doctor if you think a new infection is developing.
- Get medical advice if eye pain or vision changes are severe or keep getting worse.
Call your doctor if your infection seems to worsen or a new infection appears.
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic warnings and precautions
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- Not for injection into the eye.
- Prolonged use may cause overgrowth of non-susceptible organisms, including fungi. If this happens, stop the drops and get other treatment.
- Do not wear contact lenses during treatment or while you have signs of bacterial conjunctivitis.
Before taking Besifloxacin Ophthalmic
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- The label lists no contraindications.
- Pregnancy: no human data are available. Little of the drug is absorbed into the body from the eye.
- Breastfeeding: it is unknown whether it passes into breast milk. Discuss the benefits and risks with your doctor.
- Infants under 1 year: safety and effectiveness have not been established.
- Older adults: no overall differences in safety or effectiveness.
How your body processes Besifloxacin Ophthalmic
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Very little besifloxacin gets into the bloodstream after eye drops are used. In a study using the drops three times a day, peak blood levels stayed below 1.3 ng/mL in every patient. The average half-life in the blood was about 7 hours.
How to store Besifloxacin Ophthalmic
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Store at 15°C to 25°C (59°F to 77°F). Protect from light.
Written from the FDA-approved label with AI and reviewed by our pharmacy team. How we use AI →
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic: pharmacist answers to common questions
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Besifloxacin Ophthalmic — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What is this medicine for?
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How do I use the drops?
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What side effects should I expect?
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Can I wear my contacts?
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Is it safe in pregnancy or while breastfeeding?
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Can I use it for a long time?
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Is Besifloxacin Ophthalmic available over the counter?
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When was Besifloxacin Ophthalmic first available?
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Who makes Besifloxacin Ophthalmic?
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Answers drafted from the FDA-approved label with AI and reviewed by our pharmacy team. How we use AI →
More about Besifloxacin Ophthalmic on HelloPharmacist
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic forms and strengths (how it comes)
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Eye drops
How this form is used
- Besivance is used to treat bacterial conjunctivitis caused by susceptible bacteria.
- Besivance: turn the closed bottle upside down and shake it once before use.
- Besivance: place one drop in the affected eye(s) three times a day, 4 to 12 hours apart, for 7 days.
- Besivance is not for injection into the eye.
- Besivance: do not wear contact lenses during treatment.
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic on the U.S. market: products, makers and brands
How Besifloxacin Ophthalmic appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
3 companies list 4 Besifloxacin Ophthalmic product records with the FDA, mostly as eye drops; the earliest marketing or approval year on record is 2009. Brand names on the directory include Besivance; the rest are generics.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
How widely Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is used (Medicaid data)
A general measure of how commonly Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is prescribed, based on Medicaid — one of the largest public drug programs. The figure below is prescriptions filled in Q1–Q4 2025, summed across every form and brand of the drug.
Think of this as a proxy for how widely Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is used, drawn from freely available public data. Medicaid is just one program — these numbers don’t include Medicare, other government coverage, or commercial and cash-pay prescriptions, so real-world use is higher than what’s shown here.
How commonly is Besifloxacin Ophthalmic prescribed? Of the 1,601 medications we measure, Besifloxacin Ophthalmic ranks #1,411 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 12% of them.
Utilization by Besifloxacin Ophthalmic product
Pick a product to see its own Medicaid numbers. Each chip is one clinical product — a specific strength & dosage form as defined by RxNorm — with brand-name and generic versions combined.
besifloxacin 6 MG/ML Ophthalmic Suspension
Summed across the 1 of 5 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 850305
Shares are of the Medicaid prescriptions shown here. Product grouping follows RxNorm (the National Library of Medicine’s drug terminology), so “one product” means one strength & dosage form regardless of manufacturer. Dollar figures are gross Medicaid reimbursement before mandatory rebates — rebates (often large, especially for brand-name drugs) are confidential, so actual net cost to Medicaid is lower than shown.
Source: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (CMS), aggregated by generic ingredient — summed across every NDC (all brands, strengths, salt forms and dosage forms) of Besifloxacin Ophthalmic, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 1 of 5 listed Besifloxacin Ophthalmic NDCs with Medicaid activity.
Compare Besifloxacin Ophthalmic products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Besifloxacin Ophthalmic — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Eye drops | ||||
| 6 mg/mL | Ophthalmic | Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. | NDA | View NDC → |
| 6 mg/mL | Ophthalmic | Bausch & Lomb Incorporated | NDA | View NDC → |
| 6 mg/mL | Ophthalmic | Sportpharm LLC × 2 listings | NDA | View NDC → |
Showing 4 of 4 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 4 Besifloxacin Ophthalmic NDCs →
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic side effects reported to the FDA (FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Besifloxacin Ophthalmic — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Besifloxacin Ophthalmic in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic FDA approval history
How Besifloxacin Ophthalmic went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
The FDA’s enforcement reports list no Besifloxacin recalls since July 2021.
✅No Besifloxacin recalls on record since July 2021Source: FDA enforcement (recall) reports, via openFDA; our copy was last updated Sep 24, 2026.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 819911 1 dose form · 1 strength
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Dose form (SCDF) Ophthalmic Suspension RxCUI 850304In current FDA listingsClinical drug / strength (SCD) 6 MG/MLRxCUI 850305
Look up RxCUI 819911 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic supply and shortage status
Whether Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
💵 What Besifloxacin Ophthalmic costs pharmacies (NADAC benchmark)
The national average invoice price pharmacies pay for the drug itself, from CMS's NADAC survey (data as of Sep 30, 2026). This is a supply-cost benchmark — not a retail price and not what you'd pay at the counter.
| Form | Strength | Pharmacy acquisition benchmark | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension · Ophthalmic | 6 mg/mL | $44.09 per mL | NDC details & price history |
Source: CMS National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC), a survey of retail pharmacy invoice prices. Benchmarks shown are the range across package sizes of a representative product for each form and strength — other manufacturers' products may differ.
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic brand names
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic is sold under one brand name in the FDA directory — Besivance. A brand and its generic contain the same active ingredient; the brand name belongs to one company's product.
Who makes Besifloxacin Ophthalmic: manufacturers and labelers
3 companies list Besifloxacin Ophthalmic products with the FDA. By number of product records, the largest are Sportpharm LLC, Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc., Bausch & Lomb Incorporated. Labelers include manufacturers and repackagers; the product in your bottle depends on which one your pharmacy stocks.
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic drug class (RxNorm)
Besifloxacin Ophthalmic belongs to the Quinolone Antimicrobial class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
Sources for this Besifloxacin Ophthalmic page
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How this page is built
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records and does not author the underlying clinical facts. The plain-language sections are written with AI from the FDA-approved label text and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc. is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates. This is general education, not medical advice: always talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own medicines. How we build and review drug pages →