The most frequently implicated drugs with SJS are antibiotics, anti-convulsants, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications. SJS can be caused by these types of drugs:
painkillers
rheumatoid arthritis
antibiotics
drugs for bi-polar disorder
non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS)
barbiturates
anticonvulsants
sulfa antibiotics
penicillins
SJS has been reported as caused by these specific medications
Bextra
Arava
Remicade
Ibuprofen
Daypro
Children's Motrin
Advil
Topamax
Lamectal
Allopurinol
Phenytoin
Carbamazepine
Why certain drugs cause SJS is still not fully understood. However, it is generally accepted that patients with known allergies to sulfa-based drugs have a greater chance of acquiring the conditions. Examples of sulfa-based antibiotics include:
Penicillins
Tetracycline
Doxycycline
Amoxicillin
Ampicillin
Zithromax/azithromycin
Beta-Lactams
Ciprofloxacin
Proper labeling of drugs is crucial to helping medical professionals and consumers recognize and understand adverse reactions such as SJS. Too often, drugs have sulfa components, but are not labeled as sulfa drugs.
Back on December 9, 2004, the FDA ordered new warnings for Pfizer's Bextra. The warning identified Bextra as containing sulfa, and said that patients taking the drug had reported serious, potentially fatal skin reactions.
As of November 2004, the FDA had received reports of 87 cases of severe skin reactions in association with Bextra. Twenty of the cases involved patients with a known allergy to sulfa and four of the patients died.
The agency noted that Cox-2 inhibitors, such as Celebrex, and other anti-inflammatory drugs, such as naproxen and ibuprofen, also had a risk for serious skin reactions, but said that the reported rate of the side effect was greater with Bextra.
The FDA also told Pfizer to notify doctors of the risk. On October 15, 2004, Pfizer sent a letter to physicians informing them of the SJS risks associated with Bextra and advised that the skin reaction had lead to hospitalizations and deaths.
Five months later, on April 7, 2005, in a startling move, the FDA went against its own advisory committee's recommendation to allow Bextra to remain on the market and told Pfizer to remove it, in large part due to its associated risks of SJS.
In addition, the agency ordered Black Box warnings about the risk of SJS on over-the-counter NSAID drugs, such as children's Motrin and Advil. The FDA's decision to mandate the strongest warning a label can carry, followed two pediatric cases of SJS where one 9-year-old child died, and another 7-year-old girl became blind after using over-the-counter NSAIDs.
Medical professionals advise patients who have suffered a drug-related case of SJS to avoid the offending drug, and all other drugs in the same class. They also recommend that immediate relatives of SJS victims avoid the same drugs as hypersensitivity has been known to be genetically linked.
Information for injured parties can be found at Lawyers and Settlements
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/sjs_article.html
By Evelyn Pringle
evelyn.pringle@sbcglobal.net
painkillers
rheumatoid arthritis
antibiotics
drugs for bi-polar disorder
non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS)
barbiturates
anticonvulsants
sulfa antibiotics
penicillins
SJS has been reported as caused by these specific medications
Bextra
Arava
Remicade
Ibuprofen
Daypro
Children's Motrin
Advil
Topamax
Lamectal
Allopurinol
Phenytoin
Carbamazepine
Penicillins
Tetracycline
Doxycycline
Amoxicillin
Ampicillin
Zithromax/azithromycin
Beta-Lactams
Ciprofloxacin
Proper labeling of drugs is crucial to helping medical professionals and consumers recognize and understand adverse reactions such as SJS. Too often, drugs have sulfa components, but are not labeled as sulfa drugs.
Back on December 9, 2004, the FDA ordered new warnings for Pfizer's Bextra. The warning identified Bextra as containing sulfa, and said that patients taking the drug had reported serious, potentially fatal skin reactions.
As of November 2004, the FDA had received reports of 87 cases of severe skin reactions in association with Bextra. Twenty of the cases involved patients with a known allergy to sulfa and four of the patients died.
The agency noted that Cox-2 inhibitors, such as Celebrex, and other anti-inflammatory drugs, such as naproxen and ibuprofen, also had a risk for serious skin reactions, but said that the reported rate of the side effect was greater with Bextra.
The FDA also told Pfizer to notify doctors of the risk. On October 15, 2004, Pfizer sent a letter to physicians informing them of the SJS risks associated with Bextra and advised that the skin reaction had lead to hospitalizations and deaths.
Five months later, on April 7, 2005, in a startling move, the FDA went against its own advisory committee's recommendation to allow Bextra to remain on the market and told Pfizer to remove it, in large part due to its associated risks of SJS.
In addition, the agency ordered Black Box warnings about the risk of SJS on over-the-counter NSAID drugs, such as children's Motrin and Advil. The FDA's decision to mandate the strongest warning a label can carry, followed two pediatric cases of SJS where one 9-year-old child died, and another 7-year-old girl became blind after using over-the-counter NSAIDs.
Medical professionals advise patients who have suffered a drug-related case of SJS to avoid the offending drug, and all other drugs in the same class. They also recommend that immediate relatives of SJS victims avoid the same drugs as hypersensitivity has been known to be genetically linked.
Information for injured parties can be found at Lawyers and Settlements
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/sjs_article.html
By Evelyn Pringle
evelyn.pringle@sbcglobal.net
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