Zithromax is a popular antibiotic manufactured by Pfizer and prescribed for treatment of mild to moderate infections.

However, Zithromax users have reported experiencing liver damage including elevated liver enzymes, jaundice and liver failure.

Some patients that have experienced Zithromax liver complications have undergone liver transplant surgery.

Zithromax and Liver Failure

Zithromax is filtered out of the body by the liver. The risk of liver damage is increased because the medicine is particularly powerful. Pfizer received reports of liver failure soon after the drug’s release in 1994, but it was not until 2000 that the company warned the public of this risk.

In 2001, the FDA required the company to update the warning label on Zithromax about possible jaundice as well as abnormal liver function, damage or liver failure.

Zithromax liver failure symptoms include:

• Abdominal pain
• Nausea and vomiting
• Clay-colored stools
• Severe fatigue
• Jaundice (yellowish color in the skin or eyes)
• Dark urine
• Abnormal or elevated liver enzymes

Zithromax Use May Lead to Liver Transplant

When Zithromax liver failure symptoms onset rapidly, go unnoticed or are left untreated, the only recourse a patient has to survive in to undergo a liver transplant.

This past March, 23-year old Michalis P. filed a lawsuit against Pfizer, claiming that a three-day course of Zithromax he took when he was just 16, caused liver failure resulting in him being flown from Cyprus to England for an immediate liver transplant.

His attorney’s main argument was that “despite the fact that the risks of liver failure were known, there was no label warning of the risks.”

In 2011, just two years after Michalis received his liver transplant, Pfizer modified Zithromax’s label to include “life threatening liver failure” as a possible side effect. Previously it referred to “liver disorder”, Michalis’ lawsuit stated.

“The plaintiff’s lawyers in Cyprus consider this modification to the labeling as evidence of the product’s defectiveness prior to 2011,” the Zithromax lawsuit said.

“This is not the only case of serious liver failure caused by Zithromax. There are a series of articles, and publications from distinguished doctors and researchers documenting liver failure caused by Zithromax as far back as 1996.”

Additionally, in 2009, Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion in a record-breaking settlement. In the lawsuit, Pfizer faced criminal and civil allegations of illegally marketing Zithromax and 12 other drugs.

It was accused of off-label marketing and paying kickbacks to doctors for pushing drugs including Zithromax. The settlement included a $1.2 billion criminal fine, $1 billion in civil penalties and $100 million in criminal forfeiture.

The criminal fine was, at the time, the largest fine ever in a U.S. criminal case. It was also Pfizer’s fourth settlement of government charges in a decade.

Patients or families of patients injured by this drug may have a claim against Pfizer for failing to adequately warn consumers about the dangers of Zithromax. If you or a loved one has suffered liver damage or liver failure that required a liver transplant, then you may be able to bring a Zithromax lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company.