American Home Products' Division Recalls Injection

ESI Lederle, a division of Madison, N.J.-based American Home Products Corp., voluntarily is withdrawing 20 lots of its Gentamicin Sulfate Injection due to a higher-than-expected number of adverse events, the company said July 29 in a letter to healthcare professionals. Gentamicin sulfate is a water-soluble antibiotic used to treat streptococcus infections such as pneumonia and gonorrhea. The adverse effects associated with those lots included fever, chills, and dyspnea, or shortness of breath. This is not the first time the antibiotic has been withdrawn due to an increase in the frequency of adverse effects. In December 1998, Fujisawa Healthcare Inc., a subsidiary of Japan's Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., initiated a similar recall by voluntarily withdrawing all of its lots.