Irritable Bowel Drug Withdrawn

Filed in archive Digestive Health on April 3, 2007

Pills - they come and they go, one day hailed as a life saving panacea, the next day withdrawn as a threat to life. Makes a person wonder just what is safe to take and what isn't.

The latest to go, as reported in the New York Times, is Zelnorm (tegasarod):

The maker of Zelnorm, a medicine that treats constipation-related irritable bowel syndrome, stopped selling the drug Friday after federal drug officials concluded that it might cause heart attacks and strokes.

eDrugs.com describes the drug this way:

Tegaserod is used to treat severe, chronic, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in women who have constipation as their main bowel problem (constipation-predominant). It is also used to treat chronic idiopathic constipation in patients less than 65 years of age.

But there were problems with this drug even before the latest news. This from Web MD:

The FDA says Zelnorm has been associated with serious cases of diarrhea as well as instances of ischemic colitis -- a medical condition where blood flow is reduced to the intestines.