Doctors Warn On Some Antibiotics

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29898, 11 August 1962, Page 11

Doctors Warn On Some Antibiotics

(N.Z.P A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, August 10. Two doctors today warned against the danger of prescribing drugs of the tetracycline antibiotic group for women in early pregnancy.

The doctors—Dr. M. P. Carter, of Low’estoft, Suffolk, and Dr. F Wilson, of Nottingham—said in a letter to the "British Medical Journal” that thee was no conclusive evidence that tetracycline could cause malformation of the limbs in man. but there was “a strong suspicion.” “We fee) that such evidence as is already available indicates a need for extreme caution . . . until more is known about the effects of these drugs on the human foetus,” the doetors said. The letter noted that Dr. Wilson had earlier written to the journal, the official organ of the British medical profession, about a patient

given tetracycline in early pregnancy for acute bronchitis, whose baby was born with some fingers webbed and other fingers missing.

The doctors said it was possible that some of the malformations attributed to thalidomide had been caused by other drugs. A British drug firm. Cyanamid of Great Britain. Ltd , tonight announced that it had written to 50,000 doctors to assure them that the antibiotic Aureomyein had caused no abnormalities in babies in its 14 years of use. Aureomyein is the trade name for chlortetrscycline. The firm is concerned about reports which have quoted Dr. Sidney Q. Cohalan. of New York, as saying in a medical paper that babies treated with the drug suffered reduction of bone growth. The managing director of Cyanamid. Mr O. N. Williams. said the firm had telephoned Dr. Cohalan and he had told them “that the paper definitely stated that there were no abnormalities in the infants studied.” Review of Drags

The British pharmaceutical industry has set up a committee to review all drugs put on the British market. The new committee has been set up by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, representing more than 70 drug-manu-facturing firms. The firms will be sked to pool their experience so that extra safeguards can be worked out

Laboratory testa on animals and clinical trials with humans gave no warning that thalidomide was a danger to unborn babies. Thalidomide Ban

In Canberra, a Federal Government ban on imports of thalidomide and preparations which contain it, was announced. The Minister of Customs and Excise (Senator N. Henty) said the Government believed the drug dangerous and a menace to the community Future importations would be approved only on the recommendation of the Minister of Health and subject to safeguards.