US: Deaths from drug therapy more than double

Deaths from drug therapy have more than doubled in the last six years an American study shows.

The research published by the American Medical Association analysed all adverse drug events and medication errors that were reported to the Food and Drug Administration from 1998 to 2005.

The figures show that:

• Serious adverse drug events have increased from 34,966 to 89,842 each year.
• Annual fatal adverse drug events have gone from 5,519 to 15,107 each year.
• For 13 new biotechnology products serious events grew from 580 in 1998 to 9181 in 2005.
• 298 of the 1,489 drugs identified (20%) accounted for 407,394 of the 467,809 events (87%).

The most frequent suspect drugs in deaths from 1998 to 2005 were:

• Oxycodone
• Fentanyl
• Clozapine
• Morphine
• Acetaminophen

The most frequent suspect drugs that resulted in disability or a serious outcome were:

• Estrogens
• Insulin
• Infliximab
• Interferon beta
• Paroxetine

Since 1998 the US Food and Drug Administration has operated the Adverse Event Reporting System, in order to collect all voluntary reports of adverse drug events.

Download Serious Adverse Drug Events Reported to the Food and Drug Administration, 1998-2005, by clicking here.