Hundreds of epilepsy patients are pursuing legal action against a pharmaceutical company after taking an anti-seizure drug they claim has lead to blindness or serious sight impairment.
Aventis Pharma launched anti-epilepsy drug Sabril in 1989 to control severe seizures in both children and adults, and maintain that it is safe.
The issue came to light when Andrew Chapman, an epileptic who had been taking Sabril for a number of years, approached Wolderstans law firm in Plymouth in 1989 claiming that the drug had caused him to lose his sight. Since then, more than 100 patients have contacted the law firm with similar stories and lawyers acting for the litigants believe that thousands of patients could still come forward to claim substantial pay-outs from the drugs firm.
The case will hinge on whether Aventis Pharma did enough to alert patients to the potential risk to their eyesight that could occur as a result of taking the drug. Even though use of the drug has declined since the side-effects were discovered, action group Epilepsy Action believe that many epileptics are still unaware of the potential risks.
"As far as I know Aventis Pharma is now calling this a last resort drug," said Tim Roper, a solicitor for Wolferstans. "Unfortunately, many of the people coming to us claim to have no idea of the risks they were taking."
Barbara Pinder, spokeswoman at charity Epilepsy Action, said drug companies must be more upfront with epileptics about the potential side effects of drugs taken to control serious seizures.
"Drug companies have a responsibility to inform their customers about any possible side-effects," she said. "In a lot of cases companies will inform health professionals or specialists, but the information doesn't filter down quickly enough."
Ms Pinder said drug companies should be honest with patients about the need to weigh up the risks of taking a drug such as Sabril and the need to control epileptic seizures.
"Epileptic patients and parents of epileptic children deserve the right to access all the information available to make informed choices about the drugs they're taking," she said. "In this case we would urge all patients still taking Sabril to go for regular specialist eye checks to identify any potential problems."
The case is expected to commence at the end of 2005, and patients have until the end of September to put forward new claims.
In a statement released by the company, Aventis Pharma denied the claims saying: "Sabril is licensed in the UK, in 62 countries and we believe the product is safe. We cannot comment on individual cases but we are defending all the claims that have been made."
