FDA Admits Children's Antibiotic Could Cause Liver Failure, But Allows its Sale Anyway
Though the Sanofi-Aventis antibiotic Ketek has been shown to damage the liver and sometimes cause death after a few doses, the FDA says the drug's benefits outweigh its risks and has allowed the product to remain on the market.
Ketek is often prescribed to children. It has been approved to treat sinusitis, bronchitis and mild-to-moderate pneumonia. According to the New York Times, an FDA safety reviewer argued in May that Sanofi-Aventis should stop testing Ketek on children with ear infections. He said that reducing the length of ear pain by one day was not worth risking death. The drug firm has since "paused" its pediatric trials, but according to Dr. John Jenkins of the FDA's Office of New Drugs, discussions are under way to determine if testing can resume.
In the United States, 14 adults taking Ketek have suffered liver failure -- four of whom have died -- and 23 others have suffered serious liver injury. In a review of the drug, safety officials determined that while other antibiotics have been shown to damage the liver, Ketek appears to do so four times as often.
1. Soft drinks steal water from the body. They work very much like a diuretic which takes away more water than it provides to the body. Just to process the high levels of sugar in soft drinks steals a considerable amount of water from the body. To replace the water stolen by soft drinks, you need to drink 8-12 glasses of water for every one glass of soft drinks that you consume!
Some folks can eat just about anything. Some people might have no problem producing a tall glass of homemade soymilk, then converting it to chocolate milk by adding the following ingredients: Three teaspoons of sugar. One teaspoon of chocolate powder. Two tablespoons of Vaseline petroleum jelly. The Vaseline might produce gastric distress, and the soymilk drinkers would erroneously conclude that they are "allergic" to soy. Some people do not experience gastric discomfort caused by the Vaseline-like food additive, carrageenan. Many people do.
Q: Your last articles about soy were written almost two years ago. Since that time, there appears to be more evidence that soy should be avoided with the exception of properly fermented products, like miso and tempeh. Have you changed your opinion?
