Thirty Japanese may have been killed by anti-cancer drug
Pharmacia and Upjohn, Inc have reported to Japanese authorities that 30 people taking the anti-cancer drug Idamycin may have died from side-effects. Of the 700-person group being monitored while receiving the drug, 4.2 percent are reported to have been killed by it. In the clinical trials for the drug the overall death rate was 12.5 percent, but that number may include people who died from cancer as well as the drug. The drug is used to treat people with little chance of living beyond a few weeks, according to the Japanese Pharmaceutical and Medical Bureau. The medicine, based on the drug idarubicin hydrochloride, is used to treat people with myelocytic leukemia. Idamycin is approved for use in the United States.
(AP, Oct. 21, 1997)
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