Aulin victim slates system

A MOTHER-OF-TWO said she was treated like a “guinea pig” by the health system after being prescribed a painkiller that left her seriously ill.

Breda Thomas from Ballincollig in Cork was one of 40,000 Irish people taking the toxic Aulin drug when it was pulled from the market last May.

A Prime Time programme on RTÉ last night reported that the drug remained on the market even though the regulatory body, the Irish Medicines Board (IMB), had concerns about it since 1999.

While the board did not suspend the drug, they advised doctors of its risks through its Drug Safety Newsletter. But doctors said the message of its serious liver toxicity didn’t get through to them.

Professor Colin Bradley, spokesperson for the Irish College of General Practitioners, said: “They may have thought they were putting out the message, but the message wasn’t coming across effectively to GPs.”

In 2003, a review of the drug was carried out at European level, and the IMB voted in favour of withdrawing it. But after that it remained on the market in Ireland and sales increased to 40,000 patients per month.

By the time the drug was suspended earlier this year, the IMB had 53 reports of patients with liver problems associated with the drug. These included six suspected deaths and six liver transplant cases.

Breda, who nearly died as a result of a toxic reaction to Aulin, also known as Nimesulide, said she was first prescribed it by her doctor in 2005, and took it again in 2006. She became progressively sicker last year and, when she was admitted to hospitals, doctors believed she may have swallowed something that was damaging her liver.

Breda stopped taking Aulin when she read about its link to the death of Irish woman Joan Flavin.

She told the Prime Time programme that she is still recovering from the bad effects of the drugs a year after she stopped taking it.