E-drug: Dipyrone and agranulocytosis (cont'd)
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Dear colleagues:
One of the problems that have had a negative impact on the rational
use of drugs in Argentina has been the poorly functioning national
pharmacovigilance system. Few health professionals communicate
side-effects to this system and many of them even don't know how
to report to the system at all. This has generated false conclusions
about the supposed lack of side-effects of drugs such as dipyrone.
In my clinical activities I have documented more than thirteen cases
of potentially fatal side-effects of dipyrone, on a total of four
thousand five hundred clinical cases. Side-effects that I have come
across include hypotension, agranulocytosis, vasculitis, and
anaphylaxis. These cases do not appear in the records of the
national pharmacovigilance system, despite me having reported
them.
Sales of dipyrone are substantial in Argentina and whereas in
countries like Sweden manufacturers withdraw a drug after
infavourable data have appeared, the same does not happen in
Argentina.
I believe that the continuation and inappropriate use of dipyrone in
countries relates to corrupt practices within health systems. I also
believe that pirazolone derivates should receive more attention in
the countries where they still are still being marketed, and that
commercial pressures should be kept out of these discussions.
Greetings to all colleagues of E-drug.
Dr. Pablo Adolfo El�as
Profesor Titular Efectivo
C�tedra de Farmacolog�a y Terap�utica
Fac. de Odontolog�a-Universidad Nacional de Cuyo-
Argentina
e-mail: pelias@lanet.com.ar
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