Ciprofloxacin is marketed worldwide with over three hundred different brand names. In the United States, Canada, and the UK, it is marketed as Baycip, Ciloxan, Ciflox, Cipro, Cipro XR, Cipro XL, Ciproxin and most recently, Proquin. In Pakistan it is available under the brand name Starcip and Axcin. In addition, ciprofloxacin is available as a generic drug under a variety of different brand names and is also available for limited use in veterinary medicine.

Ciprofloxacin was first patented in 1983 by Bayer A.G. and subsequently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1987. Ciprofloxacin has 12 FDA-approved human uses and other veterinary uses, but it is often used for non-approved uses (off-label). Ciprofloxacin interacts with other drugs, herbal and natural supplements, and thyroid medications.

The patent history for ciprofloxacin makes reference to a 1982 European Patent (patent number 0049355), as well a German patent dated 21 January 1986. Bayer introduced ciprofloxacin in 1987 and was later approved by the U.S. FDA on 22 October 22 1987 for use in the United States to treat specific bacterial infections. In 1991, the intravenous formulation was introduced. The current United States patent appears to be held by Bayer, being the assignee. The United States patent was applied for in January 1987, but was not approved until 1996 according to the patent history.

In 2004, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin together commanded 65% ($3.3 billion) of the global sales of the fluoroquinolone class. The first nine months of 2008 sales for ciprofloxacin were $242 million, as compared to $324 million for Bayer aspirin. Ciprofloxacin has proven to be a blockbuster drug for Bayer A. G., generating billions of dollars in additional revenue. "In 1999, Cipro was the eleventh most prescribed drug in the United States based on new prescriptions, and ranked twentieth in total United States sales. In 1999, Bayer's gross sales of Cipro in the United States were approximately $1.04 billion." The sale of ciprofloxacin increased dramatically following the anthrax scare of 2001. On 24 October 2002, the Bush Administration (2001–2009) announced a deal between the government and Bayer Pharmaceuticals to purchase 100 million tablets of ciprofloxacin at a reduced price of $0.95 per pill. A full course of ciprofloxacin for postexposure prophylaxis (60 days) resulting from this arrangement costs the government $204 per person treated, compared with $12 per person treated with doxycycline, the drug normally used to treat anthrax, a difference of $192.

On 24 October 2001, The Prescription Access Litigation (PAL), filed suit to dissolve an agreement between Bayer, Barr Laboratories, and two other generic drug companies that it claimed was blocking access to adequate supplies and cheaper, generic versions of ciprofloxacin. The plaintiffs charged that Bayer Corporation, a unit of Bayer AG, had unlawfully paid three of its competitors — Barr Laboratories, Rugby, and Hoechst-Marion Roussel — a total of $200 million to prevent cheaper, generic versions of ciprofloxacin from being brought to the market, as well as manipulating the price and supply of ciprofloxacin. Numerous other consumer advocacy groups joined this lawsuit. On 15 October 2008, five years after Bayer’s patent had expired, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York granted Bayer’s and the generic defendants’ motion for summary judgment, holding that any anticompetitive effects caused by the settlement agreements between Bayer and the generic defendants were within the exclusionary zone of the patent, and thus could not be redressed by federal antitrust law, in effect upholding Bayer’s agreement to pay Barr Laboratories, Rugby, and Hoechst-Marion Roussel a total of $200 million to prevent the marketing a generic equivalent of ciprofloxacin.

The licensed uses for ciprofloxacin in the United States are as follows:

In the adult population, ciprofloxacin is limited to the treatment of proven bacterial infections such as:

Ciprofloxacin is not recommended for the treatment of tuberculosis.

As well as in combination with other specific drugs:

Oral and intravenous fluoroquinolones are not licensed by the U.S. FDA for use in children due to the risk of permanent injury to the musculoskeletal system, with two exceptions as outlined below. Within the studies submitted in response to a Pediatric Written Request (Ciprofloxacin, circa 2004) the rate of arthropathy was reported to be 9.3% at one month and 13.6% at one year. As such the pediatric use of ciprofloxacin is restricted to proven complicated urinary tract infections and pyelonephritis due to E. coli and inhalation anthrax. Although claimed to be effective, ciprofloxacin is not to be considered a first line agent for inhalation anthrax in the pediatric population. The CDC revoked its recommendation regarding the use of ciprofloxacin as a first line agent in treating anthrax due to the unacceptable risk documented within the Antimicrobial Postexposure Prophylaxis for Anthrax study (aka Cipro 60 day study). However, the fluoroquinolones are licensed to treat lower respiratory infections in children with cystic fibrosis in the UK.