| Bristol Meyers Squibb Tequin may be harmful to diabetics | Posted on 06/03/2006 in Pharmaceutical Company Product News An antibiotic marketed by Bristol-Meyers-Squibb could boost or lower blood-sugar to dangerous levels for diabetics, research has found.
The study, which was due to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine but have been released early online due to serious public health concerns, looked at the use of Tequin among elderly and older patients.
They discovered that the risk of hyperglycaemia ? high blood-sugar ? was increased by almost 17 times, while the chance of getting hypoglycaemia ? low blood-sugar ? also leapt by four times.
Study author Dr David Juurlink told Reuters that the research had serious public health implications and that the symptoms could affect non-diabetics and "appeared typically appears within a day or two of taking the drug".
He added that as his study only looked at individuals within hospital care. "Somebody could easily die from a seizure from low blood sugar and they would never have made it [in]."
"We can't identify everybody, only those who survived to go to the hospital or those sick enough to go to the hospital," he added.
A spokesperson for Bristol-Meyers-Squibb said to the LA Times that the results were consistent with the firm's "post-marketing experience" of the drug.
 © Adfero LtdOther news stories from 06/03/2006
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