CMAJ • March 11, 2008; 178 (6). doi:10.1503/cmaj.1080001.
© 2008 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association.
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Letters

Information about a discontinued drug

Joel Lexchin, MSc MD

Associate Professor, School of Health Policy and Management, York University, Toronto, Ont.

In their research letter on the extent to which publication in the biomedical literature concerning drug-induced harm can influence the legal process, David Juurlink and colleagues mention that the manufacturer of gatifloxacin stopped marketing the drug worldwide on May 1, 2006.1 Health Canada issued a number of alerts about the potential for this product to interfere with glucose metabolism2,3 but never bothered to formally inform either the public or health care professionals that oral and intravenous forms of this drug were withdrawn from sale in Canada. The only place where one can find this information is by searching the discontinued products in Health Canada's Drug Product Database (http://cpe0013211b4c6d-cm0014e88ee7a4.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com/dpdonline/searchRequest.do). This failure to communicate important information about a drug raises serious concerns about Health Canada's ability to keep health care professionals and the public informed about safety issues.

Footnotes

Competing interests: Joel Lexchin has been retained by a law firm working for Apotex Inc. regarding the role of promotion in product sales.


REFERENCES

  1. Juurlink DN, Park-Wyllie LY, Kapral MK. The effect of publication on Internet-based solicitation of personal-injury litigants. CMAJ 2007;177:1369-70.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada. Association of Tequin (gatifloxacin) with serious hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Montréal: Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada; 2005 Dec 19. Available: www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/medeff/advisories-avis/prof/2005/tequin_hpc-cps_e.html (accessed 2008 Feb 12).
  3. Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada. Updated safety information for Tequin (gatifloxacin) and serious hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Montréal: Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada; 2006 May 12. Available: www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/medeff/advisories-avis/prof/2006/tequin_2_hpc-cps_e.html (accessed 2008 Jan 24).




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