Many patients taking an anti-seizure medication like Onfi have reportedly developed Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS), a painful allergic reaction to a prescription drug. While any person can contract SJS after taking any kind of medication, certain classes of medications like anti-seizure drugs and antibiotics have an unusually high incidence rate of SJS reactions. Onfi is one such anti-epileptic drug that causes some parents and researchers worry because of the possibility of an Onfi SJS event.

Recently, a news report followed up on the life of a young child who developed SJS after taking an anti-seizure medication like Onfi. Three years ago, an 8-year-old boy in the United States named Levi was prescribed a new anti-epileptic medication to control his seizures. However, soon after taking this medication, he developed serious SJS side effects, including intense skin peeling and even organ failure, common SJS symptoms as the disease attacks skin cells both internally and externally. Young Levi reportedly lost more than 85 percent of his skin and was kept in hospitalization for six months for SJS treatment. Three years later, Levi has survived his SJS ordeal, but has lost his eyesight, even after undergoing 12 surgeries to correct this SJS side effect.

Similarly, a Georgia College and State University graduate student named Khaliah took Lamictal, an anti-seizure medication similar to Onfi, and contracted SJS fairly quickly during December 2013. She first experienced SJS rashes and blisters, which quickly progressed to the point that the top layer of her skin was dying. Khaliah’s SJS reportedly morphed into the more severe form of this allergic skin reaction known as Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (or TEN). Because of the pain and suffering this student experienced because of her SJS symptoms, she was placed in a medically induced coma in order to facilitate recovery. She has also survived her SJS ordeal and is now in physical therapy, regaining the use of her body that is ravaged by the effects of Stevens Johnson Syndrome.

While neither Levi or Khaliah’s SJS reactions were specifically caused by Onfi, these cases demonstrate the SJS risk many patients take when ingesting an anti-seizure medication.

Onfi SJS Side Effects

Onfi (or clobazam), is an anti-seizure medication made by Lundbeck, a Danish pharmaceutical company. Onfi is commonly used and prescribed as a treatment for Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a neurological condition that affects young children. This disease causes children to experience severe epileptic seizures. While Onfi has been very successful in helping young Lennox-Gastaut patients control and manage their seizures, there have also been reports of patients developing Onfi side effects like SJS and TEN.

When an individual develops Onfi SJS or TEN, the individual’s topmost layer of skin dies and sloughs off, leaving the deeper skin layers and the mucous membrane exposed and prone to infection, blistering, and scarring. Onfi SJS and TEN victims require weeks or even months of hospitalization in burn units, as SJS symptoms tend to look like severe burns and require similar treatments.

Some Onfi SJS patients may even die if the burn-like skin reaction spreads to over 30 percent of their body.

As a result of the pain and suffering experienced by alleged victims of Onfi SJS, many individuals and families have filed Onfi SJS lawsuits or joined Onfi Stevens Johnson Syndrome class action lawsuits against Lundbeck, seeking personal damages and injunctive relief.