TY - JOUR
AB - Inpharma 1329 - 16 Mar 2002 Stavudine: safety information updated A ‘Dear Healthcare Professional’ letter has been issued by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Canada, advising of new safety information to be incorporated into the product monograph for stavudine [‘Zerit’]. The information to be added states that reports have been received of rare occurrences of rapidly ascending neuromuscular weakness, mimicking the clinical presentation of Guillain-Barr´e syndrome (including respiratory failure), in patients with HIV infection receiving stavudine in combination with other antiretrovirals. It says that there have been 22 such reports worldwide since 1994, 7 of which were fatal. Patient exposure to stavudine during this time is estimated at 832 383 patient-years. Most of these cases are said to have been reported in the setting of lactic acidosis or symptomatic hyperlactacidaemia and, in the majority, antiretroviral therapy had been continued in the presence of nonspecific early symptoms of hyperlactacidaemia that preceded the development of neuromuscular signs and symptoms. The company advises that stavudine should be discontinued in patients who develop motor weakness. The company reminds healthcare providers to be vigilant in identifying early signs of hyperlactacidaemia due to the life-threatening potential of its most extreme manifestation, lactic acidosis syndrome. Early symptoms associated with 
TI - Stavudine: safety information updated
JO - Inpharma Weekly
DO - 10.2165/00128413-200213290-00045
DA - 2013-02-09
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/stavudine-safety-information-updated-VZM1SPgNWq
SP - 20
EP - 20
VL - 1329
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -