Submit your Defective Drugs claim details for a free, no obligation case review.
Get Started:
drug_recall geodonIn September 2003, the FDA issued a mandate to the manufacturers of the six most commonly prescribed antipsychotic medications requiring them to update the risk labels on their medications. Geodon, an antipsychotic medication produced by Pfizer Inc. and prescribed to treat schizophrenia and bipolar mania, was on this list.
Just under a year later, in August 2004, Pfizer released a warning to physicians linking Geodon to increased risk of extremely high blood sugar and diabetes. In some cases, this risk could be extreme enough to induce coma or death.
Pfizer claims that there have not been high numbers of patients suffering from hyperglycemia or diabetes caused by Geodon, but this could be because the drug is not highly prescribed by the medical community.
The letter to physicians also claims that the increased diabetes risk in patients on Geodon may be related to the higher incidence of diabetes in the general population of schizophrenia patients. The manufacturer also states that the increase in prevalence of diabetes in the otherwise healthy public is only compounding the problems associated with Geodon.
Patients already diagnosed with diabetes are warned to closely monitor glucose levels if they must undergo treatment with Geodon. Warnings have also been issued to people with risk factors for diabetes, such as obesity or family history of diabetes. At-risk patients beginning treatment with Geodon should participate in a fasting blood glucose test prior to the start of the Geodon prescription and then undergo periodic blood sugar testing throughout Geodon treatment to reassess diabetes risk.
Anyone taking Geodon - or any other antipsychotic - for the treatment of schizophrenia or bipolar mania should pay attention to possible symptoms of diabetes. These include: polydipsia (excessive thirst), polyuria (excessive need to urinate), polyphagia (excessive hunger) and weakness. If symptoms appear, it is up to the physician and patient to decide whether symptoms and risk of diabetes are great enough to require discontinuation of the Geodon treatment.
While results have been found linking Geodon with diabetes, a causal relationship has not been proven. Experts caution that further studies must be done to firmly conclude the findings that Geodon causes diabetes. Until then, patients on Geodon are warned to err on the side of caution - the association between Geodon and diabetes is enough to warrant concern.
In response to a 2003 Food and Drug Administration request that drug manufacturers revise warnings on antipsychotic medications, Pfizer Inc. released a statement alerting physicians to reports that Geodon has been linked to extremely high blood sugar a...