French Company to Warn US Doctors of Side Effects of Drug Similar to Amiodarone

Paris, FranceFrance's largest drugmaker, Sanofi-Aventis SA, is expected to send a letter to US doctors to inform them of two cases of liver failure in patients taking a drug similar to amiodarone, Bloomberg reports.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">While company spokesman Jean-Marc Podvin said that the drugmaker will inform the US doctors, he added that there has not been a causal relationship established between the drug Multaq and liver injury.

Podvin said that nearly 200,000 patients around the world have been prescribed Multaq since it was introduced. The drugmaker has reportedly been counting on profits from Multaq's sales to help offset revenue losses in its blood-thinner Plavix and cancer treatment Taxotere, which have suffered due to generic competition.

Multaq reportedly treats atrial fibrillation, the most common type of arrhythmia which affects more than two million people in the US, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

The drug had been designed as a safer alternative to amiodarone, which is a generic medicine that carries serious liver and lung risks, according to Bloomberg.