On Monday March 13, patients filed a complaint against the unjustified prescriptions of fluoroquinolones, a family of antibiotics. Victims of serious side effects, they denounce a health scandal.
A dozen patients took legal action on Monday, March 13, against X and against the doctors who prescribed them fluoroquinolones. These antibiotics, marketed under the names Oflocet, Ciflox or Tavanic, are the cause of serious side effectsfound France info. The Quinolones France patient association counted six million unjustified prescriptions in four years, based on OECD prescription data for these drugs in France. In general, these antibiotics are prescribed to fight against otitis, cystitis or sinusitis.
In 2021, Jean-Baptiste’s doctor prescribed him fluoroquinolones. The effects were such that he now has to use a wheelchair. At the microphone of France infoit testifies : “I have three children. Today, I live in seclusion, bedridden in my room all day. […] I grew up among doctors, so I’m amazed. I feel betrayedI still haven’t come to terms with the idea of what happened to me.” Another patient, Philippe Coville, suffers from severe neuropathies after taking fluoroquinolones in 2021. Now he wants “that the justices of all the countries of Europe seize the subject to shed light on what happened and for accountability to be established”.
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The Ministry of Health takes up the subject
A study, commissioned by the European Medicines Agency and published in May 2022, seems to go in the direction of the patient association: according to its results, more than two-thirds of prescriptions are made without respecting the recommendations. She also cites serious side effects: “Nervous system damage, neuropsychiatric disorders, musculoskeletal system disorder.” The French Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics also called on the Ministry of Health to make arrangements for doctors to justify prescriptions of these antibiotics. The latter explained to France info having published a file on the website of the National Medicines Agency, and sent an alert message to all pharmacies on March 7. The ministry must send in the next few weeks “a mailing to all health professionals who can prescribe these antibiotics”. It also ensures France info that the Haute Autorité de santé is in the process of adjusting its recommendation “so that fluoroquinolones are no longer prescribed in simple cystitis in men, as is already planned in simple cystitis in women.”