HEALTH ALERT: Omeprazole

The Ministry of Health (Minsa) reported this Sunday, February 26, that the Spanish Agency for Medicines and other Health Products published in its monthly bulletin at the beginning of February that in a pharmacovigilance evaluation, it observed the appearance of acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (ITN,)that can appear at any time during treatment with Omeprazole.

“Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis can progress to renal failure,” the document stated.

According to the National Directorate of Pharmacy and Drugs of the Minsa, NTI is an important cause of reversible acute renal failure. Between 6 and 25% of patients undergoing renal biopsy for the failure of unknown cause present it.

It stressed that they maintain several products registered in Panama with the active principle Omeprazole alone or in combination.

To date, the National Pharmacovigilance Center has received few reports of suspected adverse drug reactions associated with the active principle omeprazole. However, none associated with acute tubulointerstitial nephritis or acute renal failure, the entity assured.

“Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor drug that acts on the gastric parietal cell. It acts quickly and produces a control by means of the reversible inhibition of the acid secretion of the stomach with only a daily dose. Its use is indicated in reflux esophagitis, gastric ulcers, eradication of helicobacter pylori, gastric hypersection such as Zollinger-Ellison disease, and in prophylaxis of gastric erosion by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs”, explained Farmacia y Drogas.