Warnings, COLUMNS-Drugs & Supplements, September 2004

Study Warns of Combining Erythromycin And CYP3A Inhibitors

Researchers writing in the Sept. 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine warn that the use of erythromycin in combination with some drugs risk heart attacks.

The study was undertaken by Wayne A. Ray Ph.D. and others from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Ray, et al., utilized Tennessee Medicaid data that included 1,476 cases of sudden death from cardiac causes.

"Case reports have long suggested that erythromycin is associated with an increase in the risk of torsades de pointes," they wrote.