Spanish painkiller linked to deaths of 37 Brit expats and why it's not being banned
The drug is outlawed in Britain, the US and Australia, and campaigners wanted it banned in Spain.
A painkiller that is banned in 30 countries, including the US, UK and Australia, is still being used in Spain and has been linked to the deaths of 37 British and Irish expats and tourists.
Metamizole, commonly sold under the brand Nolotil, is believed to have caused dozens of deaths by causing agranulocytosis, a reaction which weakens a person's immune system meaning even slight infections can trigger sepsis and even organ failure.
Despite the dangers the medication is Spain's top-selling drug with 27.8 million pills sold in 2022, according to the Telegraph.
For a reason yet to be discovered, people from some countries seem more disposed to developing potentially fatal side-effects. In Spain campaigners looked at 400 cases and of 47 deaths recorded, 37 were British and Irish.
Briton Becky Harris, aged 60, nearly died in 2014 after taking Nolotil for two months to combat severe back pain from arthritis. She developed agranulocytosis and had to be kept in an immune isolation bubble to stop her from contracting a fatal infection.
Ms Harris told the Telegraph medical authorities in Spain were playing "Russian roulette" with patients' lives, she said: “I try to think I am lucky not to have died but it has been 10 years of torture since then, if I’m honest. I wake up each day and I don’t know what’s going to be next.
“It is if they are playing Russian roulette with patients. I am absolutely disgusted they are still prescribing it to people.”
Cristina García del Campo is leading a campaign to have Nolotil banned after seeing the death of an Irish friend who took the drug.
She told the newspaper people of Irish and British heritage had a "80 to 120 times higher" chance of an adverse reaction to the medication.
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Nolotil’s Germany-based manufacturer, Boehringer Ingelheim, told the Guardian: “Metamizole has been used by patients for almost 100 years, with an established and well-known safety profile.
“Agranulocytosis is described as a very rare frequency adverse reaction in the current prescribing information. The side effect of agranulocytosis is addressed in the current product information.”
In a statement Spanish health authorities said the risk was still very low with only "1 to 10 cases per million users”, the Telegraph reported.
