HEALTH ALERT: Drug pulled from market

ANTI-INFLAMTORY and pain killing drugs containing the active ingredient Nimesulide have been pulled from the Panamanian market.

The MoH, Ministry of Health (MoH) said  the decision is because it was detected that the active ingredient can cause serious damage to the liver. According to the report produced by the  MoH, three products  contain  the active ingredient: Severin in tablets and suspension form and  Apolide in  tablet format.
The health authority has no reported cases of adverse reactions to the medicine in Panama but deaths have been recorded in Finland and Spain.
Nimesulide drugs began to be sold in in 1995 and was  marketed in about 50 countries but  health authorities in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Japan never issuedhealth permits due to “concerns about the safety profile” of the drug.