Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Sometimes we forget how lucky we are.

Today I read the story of Joe Way of England. He was born just two and a half months before my son, on September 5, 2003. Though an ocean apart, he was not unlike my son. He was born healthy to a loving family. But at a week old, he contracted meningitis and eventually was diagnosed with Angelmans syndrome, a neuro-genetic disorder that can cause developmental delays, seizures and jerky movements. It is so named because those who suffer from the condition appear to have a happy, joyful demeanor. In order to control the seizures, Joe was put on Topiramate, an anticonvulsant.

“We were warned about the usual side effects – loss of appetite, liver problems, etc., but not SJS (Stevens Johnson Syndrome),” his family writes in their online journal Joe Way Inspired.

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In June 2009, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s Revised Japanese Pharmaceutical Law will come into effect, banning the online purchase of many over-the-counter drugs in Japan. The measure hopes to cut down on the more than 300 cases of negative side effects caused by over-the-counter drugs each year in Japan, according to The Mainichi Daily News.

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Adverse reactions to antibiotics send more than 140,000 Americans to the emergency room every year, according to a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and reported this month by Natural News.

Researchers centered their focus on antibiotics that were either ingested or injected rather than those that are applied to the skin. Data was pulled from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Cooperative Adverse Drug Event Surveillance project. The data showed that 19 percent of all emergency visits for adverse reactions to drugs were due to antibiotics.

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The FDA’s post-market safety review has uncovered a link between lenalidomide (marketed as the drug Revlimid) and serious skin reactions, including Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).

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Seven major pharmaceutical companies are banding together to develop genetic tests that predict which patients will have adverse side effects from drugs. The group, a nonprofit organization dubbed the International Serious Adverse Events Consortium (SAEC), will conduct two studies, one to look at drug-related liver toxicity and the other aimed at a rare drug-related skin condition called Stevens-Johnson syndrome.

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