Healthy Skepticism Library item: 9045

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Company defends controversial sleeping pill
ABC News (Australia) 2007 Mar 27
http://web.archive.org/web/20070330121645/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1883071.htm

Full text:

A company has defended its controversial sleeping pill amid reports one woman had to have her leg amputated after using the product.

More than 400 users of Stilnox have rung the Adverse Medicine Events line to report amnesia and strange behaviour after taking the drug.

A Brisbane woman says she was found unconscious a day after she took a Stilnox tablet.

She was lying on her leg and it had to be amputated.

“There’s nothing worse when you go to bed a healthy person with two limbs and then waking up four days later, five days later and you’ve lost a limb,” she said.

Other people have reported behaviour such as cooking, smoking, stabbing themselves and even driving in their sleep.

Some users have reported having no memory of their activities after taking Stilnox.

Sanofi-Aventis makes Stilnox and its medical director Gordon Hirsch says while patient safety is critical, it is hard to prove what side-effects the drug causes.

“I think it’s not an acknowledgement that they do occur with Stilnox, it’s an acknowledgement that they could occur with Stilnox,” he said.

He says the company is reviewing the drug’s product information.

Adverse Medicine Events pharmacist Geraldine Moses says some people are embarrassed to report their experiences.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in 20 years of being a pharmacist,” she said.

“What surprises me is that the drug has been on the market for almost 10 years, so clearly these reactions would have been happening.

“Why are people reporting it now? The only thing I can think of is that they’ve got an avenue to report it.”