Wolferstans Solicitors Investigate Deaths linked to Prescription Drug
The safety of Telithromycin (also known as Ketek), a widely prescribed antibiotic, is being investigated by Regulatory bodies in America and Europe following the deaths of four patients.
Telithromycin - Liver Failure
It is reported that the drug Telithromycin is under investigation following the four deaths and over 100 reported adverse incidents of injury. Reported cases include patients suffering acute liver failure as well as serious liver damage. It is believed that acute liver failure resulted in death in four reported cases. Other reported adverse effects have included problems with the eye and fainting.
Medicines Regulators in the US, Canada and Europe have issued alerts to healthcare professionals and patients and called for the manufacturer, Sanofi Aventis, to add stronger warnings of liver damage to the prescription information accompanying the drug.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year requested Sanofi Aventis to add a black box warning, the highest level of prescription warning in the US, to the product to warn about “severe, life threatening, and in some cases fatal” liver toxicity that has been reported as a possible side effect for patients.
In January 2006, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) asked Sanofi Aventis to add stronger warnings about the risk of liver failure to the Ketek label. The Canadian medicines watchdog, Health Canada, has also requested similar warnings be added.
Telithromycin is also known as Ketek and is licensed and available in the UK to treat various types of bacterial infections, such as chest and throat infections.
Telithromycin side effects
Symptoms of liver failure include jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes), a tendency to bruise or bleed and generally failing health. Other common symptoms include fatigue, weakness, nausea, and a loss of appetite. In acute liver failure, a person may go from being healthy to near death within a few days. In chronic liver failure, the deterioration in health may be very gradual until a dramatic event, such as bleeding varices (large, tortuous veins), occurs. Known side effects of the drug include abdominal pain, headaches, dizziness, anorexia and blurred vision.
If you are currently prescribed, or have been prescribed Telithromycin, and have concerns, in the first instance we would suggest you contact your treating doctor.
Compensation
If you have suffered an injury as a consequence of taking Telithromycin or suspect you might have, and you wish to investigate bringing a claim then please call or email our Product Liability Team who will offer initial free and non-obligatory advice. If you wish to make a claim for compensation then we can discuss various funding options including public funding (formerly legal aid) and ‘no win no fee’.
Stephen Hanbury of our Product Liability Team says, “We are singularly well placed to deal with any or all of the Claimants who wish to bring an action as a result of receiving injuries from Ketek. Wolferstans Solicitors are members of the Law Society Multi Party Action Panel and are currently pursuing a product liability claim on behalf of the entire Claimant cohort in respect of the anticonvulsant drug Vigabatrin/Sabril. We have knowledge of and are familiar with the manufacturers of Ketek.
“We have at our disposal a team comprising of experts who are internationally renowned and leaders in their fields”.