Norvasc, the trade name of Amlodopine, is a drug designed to treat certain heart problems including chest pain and high blood pressure. However, the drug may be linked to a life-threatening disorder called Stevens Johnson Syndrome, or SJS.

Norvasc SJS cases are a type of autoimmune disease. This means that in SJS patients, their immune systems go haywire, and attack their own tissues. In SJS, the reaction typically targets the skin and the inside of the nose and mouth. However, in some more extreme cases, the damage can also spread to the eyes and the surface of internal organs. The symptoms typically start with vague, flu-like ailments seen in many diseases, including fever, chills, and muscle aches. However, the symptoms escalate of the course of days, or even hours, to a painful rash with blisters, then sores and ulcers. The syndrome can be fatal, and the most critical cases of Norvasc SJS can even escalate to a more deadly form of the reaction called Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, or TEN.

Patients with TEN experience burn-like wounds as patches of their skin die and slough off. In fact, these wounds are so similar to thermal burns that physicians often resort to shipping TEN patients to burn wards, as they face many of the same threats like secondary infection, dehydration, and severe pain. Though all cases of SJS have the potential to kill, the mortality rate of TEN can be as high as 40 percent, higher than some strains of the Ebola virus.

SJS and TEN are almost always caused by a reaction of a drug. It is very difficult to predict which patients will develop SJS from what drug. But Norvasc is among the drugs known to trigger SJS and TEN in some patients. While the reaction is relatively rare, Norvasc is a widely used drug. Dozens of companies around the world manufacture and distribute Norvasc.

Norvasc SJS has serious consequences for survivors. Even if a person does not die from the disorder, recovery is a grueling process. It can take months, even years, for skin to heal from this disorder. Additionally, many survivors of Norvasc SJS face debilitating and disfiguring scaring. Others suffer from blindness or impaired organ function.

In general, SJS lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

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