Azithromycin, a widely used antibiotic, has been linked with a life-threatening allergic skin condition known as Azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome, or SJS.

Azithromycin Background

Azithromycin, which is also marketed as Zithromax, Z-Pak, and Z-max, is manufactured and distributed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Inc. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991.

Azithromycin is an antibiotic used to treat a variety of bacterial infections in both adults and children. Adults often take azithromycin to treat respiratory infections or sexually transmitted infections, while children take azithromycin to fight ear infections or pneumonia.

As with any drug, azithromycin comes with a few mild side effects, including common skin rashes that go away on their own without further treatment. However, azithromycin has also been increasingly linked with a serious and even life-threatening skin condition known as azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome.

What is Azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome?

Azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome often begins as one of the more common and mild skin reactions to azithromycin. However, it can rapidly develop into a painful and dangerous skin rash.

For some patients, treatment of azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome may only require being taken off the drug. For others, SJS symptoms can become so severe that they will need serious medical attention.

Azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome resembles burn injuries, and if severe is often treated in a hospital’s burn unit.

As it develops, an azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome rash spreads quickly across the skin, rapidly developing blisters that spread, causing the skin to peel painfully.

Once the rash has spread to cover over 30 percent of a patient’s skin, it becomes reclassified as Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN).

TEN is a more advanced, severe, and dangerous form of azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome. Unfortunately, patients with TEN are at a much greater risk. The rate of fatalities linked with SJS is 15 percent, while TEN patients face a risk of up to 40 percent.

Patients who do survive a struggle with SJS or TEN are often left with severe and permanent scarring marring their skin where the painful rash once was.

Azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome Lawsuits

Since the rise in these azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome adverse event reports, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked Pfizer to include a warning label about the risk of  Stevens Johnson Syndrome as a possible azithromycin allergic reaction on their drug.

Lawsuits against Pfizer over azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome risks claim that Pfizer failed to adequately warn both the public and the medical community about the serious risk of developing the life-threatening azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome side effect.

These lawsuits claim that plaintiffs affected by SJS would have been able to choose a safer alternative if they had been properly informed about the risk of SJS.

While filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering of those affected by azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome or bring a loved one back to life, it can help to compensate for the financial expenses incurred by medical bills and lost wages.

If you or someone you love has suffered from azithromycin Stevens Johnson Syndrome after using azithromycin or a similar drug, you may be able to file a lawsuit against Pfizer.