UK licence for cisapride suspended

The product licence for cisapride (Prepulsid), a drug used to treat gastric and digestive disorders in adults and children, has been suspended by the Medicines Control Agency after five deaths in the United Kingdom and 125 deaths worldwide that are thought to be associated with the drug.

When the Committee on Safety of Medicines recently reviewed the drug, which is made by Janssen-Cilag, it found rare but serious disturbances in heart rhythm associated with it.

Since 1988, when cisapride was licensed in the United Kingdom, the yellow card scheme—under which doctors report adverse drug reactions—has received 60 reports of serious cardiovascular reactions, five of which were fatal.

Worldwide there have been 386 …