Across the country, specialized law firms and individual attorneys are offering their services to patients who suffered Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) after taking a prescription drug. Dilantin (Phenytoin) is one of the most frequent drugs mentioned in these potential lawsuits, as many patients have suffered severe adverse effects after taking this medication.

What is Dilantin?

Dilantin helps patients manage seizures by slowing the brain’s impulses and reducing the maximum levels of brain stem cell activities. This drug has also been known to help prevent the onset of seizures in emergency rooms patients who experienced traumatic head injuries.

Dilantin has been one of the most popular antiepileptic drugs in the United States since its official release in 1953. It was the first modern drug to treat seizures by the FDA, but adverse events reports of Dilantin SJS have been ongoing since the 1930s during its pre-clinical studies.

While the current Dilantin label does warn patients against Stevens Johnson Syndrome, experts believe that Pfizer does not regularly remind physicians or patients of the Dilantin SJS risk. Additionally, it has been found that very few patients actually read the side effects of drug warning label, often finding their doctor’s advise satisfactory.

Overview of Dilantin SJS Concern

Stevens Johnson Syndrome is an extremely rare, life-threatening skin condition that is specifically caused by an adverse medication reaction. Like all allergic reactions, it occurs when the body’s biological functions feel under attack by the foreign substance and then fights back. While SJS is infamously characterized by the red or purple skin lesions that appear on the body, it can also include the swelling of the throat, eyes, mouth, and even anus.

If not treated promptly, Stevens Johnson Syndrome can be fatal especially when the skin lesions become infected, or if patients develop internal lesions in the lungs and other internal organs.

Oftentimes, the skin lesions cause the affected skin to literally melt-off the patient, creating the need for skin grafts and treatment application from the hospital’s burn unit. In a typical Stevens Johnson Syndrome case, the lesions can cover up to 30% of patient’s skin surface, although it can develop into Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN), which covers up to 90% and progresses much faster.

While this condition is very rare, experts state that if Dilantin SJS were to occur it would be within the first two to eight weeks of starting the medication, and will first present with flu-like symptoms. There are approximately 300 cases of Stevens Johnson Syndrome diagnosed per year in the United States, with a significant portion of them involving Dilantin.

This is alarming information, especially considering the popularity of Dilantin. The concern of Dilantin SJS had become a legal priority in 2008, when the FDA released a public warning that described how Dilantin could induce Stevens Johnson Syndrome, or its more severe form, Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN).

The warning also described how certain genetic traits may be more susceptible to SJS, as well as patients with a family history of drug sensitivities. Unfortunately, this release came way too late to many Dilantin patients, as Stevens Johnson Syndrome is fatal in 15% of cases.

This has resulted in numerous product liability lawsuits against the drug’s manufacturing company, Pfizer, alleging that the company had downplayed the risk of Dilantin SJS for years.

In one example, Pfizer paid $3.78 million to settle claims with a family who sued the company after their young daughter had developed SJS and passed away in less than a month after ingesting Dilantin.