DUBLIN pharmacists have said it was known that the anti hayfever medicine due to be withdrawn from over the counter sale in Britain, can cause heart problems if recommendations are not followed and if it were to be taken in combination with a wide range of prescribed drugs.
The Irish Medicines Board said it had received "only isolated reports of such problems" and there had been no deaths. However, in recent months it had been "actively reviewing" the drug's availability as "an over the counter medicine".
The British Department of Health said on Thursday that 14 people had died as a result of taking products containing the drug terfenadine - also sold as Triludan - since 1982. It has written to British doctors and pharmacists announcing a six week period of consultation with a view to making the drug available only on prescription.
Terfenadine is sold under a variety of brand names including Triludan, Triludan Forte, Allereze Clear, Histafen, Terfinax, Seldane, Terfernor and Terfex.
The Irish Medicines Board said terfenadine had been available in Ireland as an over the counter medicine since 1987. It has a good safety record when used as recommended, but in certain circumstances it may adversely affect the heart rhythm.
It said warnings about the risks of possible drug "interactions" are detailed in the "patient leaflet" which accompanies every medicine.
The consultant pharmacist at Boots in Dublin's Jervis Centre, Mr David Carroll, said anyone asking for Triludan who was found to be taking prescribed medication for other complaints would be advised to take Clarityn or Zirtek. These medications included common antibiotics, drugs to treat epilepsy, stomach ulcers, fungal infections, asthma, blood pressure, heart and liver problems and some anti depressants.
Terfenadine has been found to react with all these drugs, and also with a chemical in some grapefruit juices, to cause serious irregularities in the heart rhythms of some susceptible people.