The Food and Drug Administration has released warnings about the possibility of serious injuries and even death caused by the cancer-treatment drug Tarceva. Generically known as erlotinib, Tarceva is administered as a once-daily pill taken by the patient on an empty stomach. It is intended to block tumor growth in lung and pancreatic cancer patients.

Serious injuries now associated with Tarceva are fatal holes in the gastrointestinal tract, toxic epidermal necrolysis (blistering and separation of the top layer of skin), corneal perforations, and eye ulcerations.

Tarceva is manufactured by Genentech Inc. and OSI Pharmaceutical Inc. The FDA approved Tarceva in 2004 to treat locally advanced lung cancer and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.  In 2005, Tarceva was approved to treat locally advanced pancreatic cancer when used in combination with gemcitabine.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm and is filed under Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.