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Liver failures trigger drug warning
ROCKVILLE, Md.-Physicians have been alerted to check liver enzymes in patients taking a diabetes drug after reports of two hepatic failures, including one death.
The FDA and the maker of troglitazone (Rezulin, Parke-Davis), which was okayed last March, advised doctors to check serum transaminase levels within a month or two of therapy, every three months after that during the first year, and periodically thereafter.
Enzyme tests are also indicated at the first sign of hepatic dysfunction, they said, and the drug should be halted if there’s jaundice or ALT tops three times the normal upper limit.
In addition to the death and the other failure, which led to a transplant, 33 more reports ranged from slight elevations of ALT levels to triple normal, all reversible.
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