Science / Medicine : Group Warns of Allergy Drug

An anti-allergy drug due on pharmacy shelves in June has been linked to the deaths of babies and should be restricted to prescriptions, a private health watchdog group said.

“Researchers in Belgium, where it is available over the counter, have associated the drug with sudden infant death syndrome, and in subsequent research found it to cause obstruction of the airways during sleep in infants,” the nonprofit Public Citizen Health Research Group said.

The group asked the government to reverse a decision allowing non-prescription sales of a common anti-allergy drug called Phenergan, made by Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories of Philadelphia.

The group said it was petitioning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ban non-prescription sales, and it said its petition was supported by the Maryland SIDS Institute and six prominent SIDS researchers.

SIDS kills an estimated 5,000 American babies each year, but its cause is unknown.

Wyeth-Ayerst spokesman Audrey Ashby said the FDA reviewed all test data in making its decision to allow the drug to be sold without a prescription. “We’re satisfied the products are suitable,” Ashby said.