ENT
Antibiotic telithromycin linked to liver damage
By IANS
Jan 22, 2006, 14:18

An antibiotic drug to treat lung and sinus infections has been found to cause liver failure, according to a report.

Doctors at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, studied three patients who were administered the drug 'Ketek' and found liver failure in them, a report published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine says.

All three cases occurred within a few months of each other last year, said report co-author John Hanson, a liver transplant doctor at the medical centre.

'Ketek' is prescribed to treat lung and sinus infections. The antibiotic also led to the death of a 26-year-old man and transplant surgery for a 51-year-old woman, it reported.

Ketek was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2004. Doctors have sent their findings to the FDA and discussed them with Sanofi-Aventis SA, which makes Ketek.

The company is currently reviewing the data, the report said.

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