Raptiva withdrawn due to causing serious injury including PML to patients who use it
Pharmaceutical company Genentech Inc. is recalling the defective drug Raptiva, which is used to treat psoriasis because of the drug's links to a fatal brain infection, according to a news report in the San Francisco Chronicle. This voluntary drug recall from San Francisco-based Genentech comes six months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated labeling for the drug to warn consumers about Raptiva's links to a rare nervous system disorder called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or PML. So far, there are three known confirmed fatal cases of PML in patients taking Raptiva. One other patient who was taking the drug developed similar neurological symptoms and died of an unknown cause, FDA officials said.
