An Arkansas woman is suing Eli Lilly, manufacturer of the antidepressant Cymbalta, saying the drug caused Stevens Johnson syndrome (SJS), a potentially life-threatening skin disease manifested by a rash similar to a burn.

Plaintiff Cristol Hutchinson accuses Eli Lilly of failing to adequately warn about Cymbalta’s dangerous, potentially fatal, side effects.

According to Hutchison’s Stevens Johnson Syndrome lawsuit, her doctor prescribed Cymbalta in 2011. When her dose was increased in December of that year, she began manifesting symptoms of SJS such as rashes, sores and peeling skin. Her tongue, mouth and right foot blistered. After seeking medical treatment, doctors diagnosed her with SJS caused by an adverse reaction to Cymbalta.

Hutchinson claims in her Cymbalta lawsuit that she experienced damage to her nervous system and “complex regional pain syndrome” in her right leg, resulting in chronic serious and permanent pain. She maintains that at least four years before she began taking Cymbalta, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Eli Lilly to investigate a link between Cymbalta and SJS but Lilly ignored the directive.

In July 2011, the FDA issued a warning letter to the drug manufacturer about its failure to respond to skin complaints.

Flu-like symptoms precipitate Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, which are then followed by a potentially life-threatening skin disease manifested by a rash similar to a burn with open sores and skin peeling.

Other signs of the disease include a purplish rash, painful blisters of the mucus membranes, blisters on the eyes, nose, mouth, and genitals, sloughing off of skin in large patches, joint and muscle pain and a burning sensation all over the body. It is sometimes described as the skin burning from the inside out.

A more severe form of SJS is Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN), which is diagnosed when blisters meld and cover 30 percent or more of the body. The skin also peels off in layers, exposing the skin’s under layer, the dermis, and making the body ripe for infection.

Between 5 percent and 15 percent of SJS patients die from the SJS side effects, while about up to 40 percent of TEN patients succumb to the disease. Those who survive risk myriad medical problems including a secondary skin infection (cellulitis), sepsis, blindness, internal organ damage and permanent skin damage.

There is no cure for SJS or TEN.

Cymbalta users tripled between 2005 and 2009, according to an FDA review, from 5 million to 44 million patients. It is a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) used to treat major depressive disorder, but has off-label uses for stress urinary incontinence, diabetic neuropathy and fibromyalgia.