Propylthiouracil (PTU) Lawyer
Motley Rice is reviewing potential cases involving people who have taken the pharmaceutical drug Propylthioracil (PTU) and suffered serious adverse side effects. FDA-approved in 1947, PTU is an anti-thyroid drug prescribed for both children and adults to treat hyperthyroidism. It has been linked to liver failure resulting in the need for a transplant or death.
PTU is prescribed to treat hyperthyroidism, often specifically to treat Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder and the most common form of hyperthyroidism. Graves’ disease occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the thyroid gland, causing the body to overproduce the hormone thyroxine. The higher hormone level can greatly increase the body's metabolic rate, which may affect patients in a number of ways from changes in mood to altered physical appearance. Although rarely life-threatening, Graves’ disease is often treated with PTU as this drug can help inhibit the synthesis of thyroid hormones and reduce side effects of hyperthyroidism.
Contact a PTU Lawyer
If you, your child, or someone you know may have suffered liver failure, a liver transplant, or death, contact PTU lawyer Kimberly Barone Baden by email or call +1 800.768.4026. Your initial consultation is free.
PTU History and Potential Dangers
Taking PTU has been linked with several major adverse reactions including liver injury resulting in hepatitis, liver failure, need for liver transplant or death. On June 4, 2009, the FDA released a news warning about PTU declaring that the drug can lead to potentially fatal liver damage in its users. The FDA has identified at least 32 cases of serious injury reported in patients taking PTU, 22 of which were cases of adults. Of the adult reports, there were 12 deaths and five liver transplants. Six of the ten children reported required liver transplants, and one died following treatment with PTU.
According to a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine, written by Scott Rivkees, MD of Yale University School of Medicine and Donald Mattison, MD of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, “Each year in the United States, 4000 pediatric patients with Graves' disease are treated with anti-thyroid drugs, with up to 40% receiving propylthiouracil over the past several years. Propylthiouracil-induced liver failure may occur in 1 in 2000 to 1 in 4000 treated children, but the number in whom reversible propylthiouracil-induced liver injury develops may be 10 times that range.” It is advised that alternative treatments be considered for children who are currently taking PTU.
On April 21, 2010, the FDA added a boxed warning to the label for PTU label reflect the serious and potentially fatal risk of liver injury and acute liver failure.