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Laboratory Medicine
Clarithromycin (Biaxin): Drug Safety Communication - Potential Increased Risk of Death in Patients With Heart Disease

Written by: Levan Iashvili


FDA is advising caution before prescribing the antibiotic clarithromycin (Biaxin) to patients with heart disease because of a potential increased risk of heart problems or death that can occur years later. The recommendation is based on a review of the results of a 10-year follow-up study of patients with coronary heart disease from a large clinical trial that first observed this safety issue. Clarithromycin is used to treat many types of infections, including Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection, a type of lung infection that often affects people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The large clinical trial, called the CLARICOR trial, observed an unexpected increase in deaths among patients with coronary heart disease who received a two-week course of clarithromycin. As a result, FDA added a new warning about this increased risk of death in patients with heart disease, and advised prescribers to consider using other antibiotics in such patients.

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