SCIENCE / MEDICINE : DDI, Pancreatitis Link Noted
From staff and wire reports
Seven AIDS patients taking the experimental drug DDI have now died of pancreatitis and 71 other patients have developed non-fatal cases of the disease. The updated information was released last week by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. of New York, DDI’s manufacturer, in a letter to physicians treating the 8,300 AIDS patients receiving the drug.
Bristol-Myers warned that the patients should be monitored closely for signs of the digestive ailment, such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting and that medications that can cause pancreatitis should be avoided. Bristol-Myers also said patients receiving DDI should be advised not to drink alcohol, which can cause pancreatitis, which is an inflammation of the pancreas.
