Stevens Johnson Syndrome Lawsuit Reportedly Filed

New York, NYA new lawsuit alleging a patient developed Stevens Johnson syndrome after using medication has reportedly been filed. The SJS lawsuit was filed against Pfizer regarding its antibiotic Cleocin and alleges that the drugmaker failed to warn patients about the risk of Stevens Johnson syndrome associated with its drug.

According to Harris Martin Publishing (10/31/13), Thomas Bird was given Cleocin intravenously to treat a diabetic foot infection. After that, he reportedly developed Stevens Johnson syndrome, a rare but life-threatening allergic reaction to medication, which then developed into toxic epidermal necrolysis. The lawsuit alleges that Bird suffered second- and third-degree burns over 100 percent of his body. He also allegedly suffered sloughing of his eyelids and mucosal surfaces. As a result of taking Cleocin, the plaintiff alleges, he suffered permanent scarring and irreversible injury.

The lawsuit, which was filed October 24 in the New York County Supreme Court, alleges that Pfizer knew about the risk of Stevens Johnson syndrome and its more serious form, toxic epidermal necrolysis, but did not warn patients about those risks.

Both Stevens Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis are serious conditions in which the patient suffers burn-like injuries over the body. Internal organs can also be affected by the reaction and patients who survive often have permanent damage.

Tulsa World (10/17/13) reports on one man who was fitted with a device to help him hear, 15 years after a medication to help with grand mal seizures resulted in Stevens Johnson syndrome. Christopher Steltzlen lost skin on his hands and feet and was in a wheelchair for nine months following his ordeal. He survived, but a year after his experience with Stevens Johnson syndrome, his hearing was severely impaired. Doctors determined that the Stevens Johnson syndrome caused nerve damage that affected his hearing over time, so that eventually he was 100 percent deaf in one ear and 70 percent deaf in the other.

Stevens Johnson syndrome is an allergic reaction and it can occur with previously well-tolerated medications. It is also linked to commonly used drugs. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned about a risk of Stevens Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis linked to the use of acetaminophen. The warning, issued on August 1, 2013, was made after a review of the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System database and medical literature.

According to the FDA, the warning was issued after a small number of published cases in which patients who suffered SJS or TEN were given a product containing acetaminophen again and had a recurrence of the condition.

“A search of FAERS from 1969 to 2012 identified 91 cases of SJS/TEN and 16 cases of AGEP, which resulted in 67 hospitalizations and 12 deaths,” the FDA noted. “The majority of the cases involved single-ingredient acetaminophen products.”